Lost and Found
by Sovereign Beta
Summary: Roxas, an aspiring CGI artist, meets a mysterious girl on the subway. Who is she, where did she come from, and why does trouble seem to follow her? And when he discovers the truth, will he be able to admit his feelings for her in time?
1. Chance Meeting

Motherf***ing son of a b****.

I'm so sorry I uploaded the WRONG file.

I FAIL. :(

All hail SakuraDrops93! This is a tribute to her beautiful tragedy Fate, which inspired this story.

However, I am NOT, repeat NOT, plagiarizing. Lost and Found will be uniquely Sovereign.

Expect plenty of deadpan snarking (although I will tone down the swearing).

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

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Roxas Leonhart stood up and stretched, yawning all the way. When was that stupid train coming?

He'd been here since six in the morning, waiting for the train that would take him to Twilight Town. Roxas was going to work in his brother's 3D art studio there.

He had his first introduction to computer-generated imagery and the power of the 3Ds Max program when he was ten; since then he'd been an avid artist.

Sora had been impressed enough with his baby brother's work to offer said brother a job at the studio.

Roxas, on the other hand, was not impressed by what he'd have to travel by. The subway was filthy, dimly lit, and smelly. Discarded rubbish littered the concrete waiting area.

Unfortunately, he was going to have to tolerate the place if he wanted to work at the studio.

The blond adjusted the straps of his bag a bit; his powerful laptop weighed nearly five pounds, and everything else in the bag totaled up to at least another five pounds.

Finally he heard the distinctive screeching noise that signaled the arrival of the subway.

"Where were you?" he jokingly demanded of the grey-white train.

Pale metal panels flashed by until the train slowed down with a hiss. The doors opened, but nobody came out. Figures; it was barely 6:45.

Roxas stepped on and selected a seat opposite the side that had the door. He plopped his bag down onto the seat next to him.

Not many people were on this particular car. A brunette girl quietly reading a book and a snoring old man were all.

As the subway went into motion again, Roxas wondered what he could do to keep him occupied. He wasn't as hyper now than as a kid, and he could bear the hours-long trip to Twilight Town, but he still wanted something to do.

Perhaps he could work a bit on his project? In his experience CGI projects could always use a little improvement, and his starship certainly needed a little work on the modeling.

Maybe he should have brought something to put his mouse on…

"Meh," he muttered. "Can't cry over spilt milk."

As the cursor flashed across the screen, mass selecting dozens of vertices and bending the gigantic sculpt of a gigantic vessel to Roxas's will, the train slowed down again.

The blond computer artist looked up from the laptop, wondering which stop the subway was at.

"Hollow Bastion…" he murmured. He shrugged. "Never heard of it."

Roxas promptly returned to his laptop.

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Namine grasped the small valise slung on her shoulder a little tighter as the subway came to a halt in front of her.

The whirlwind blew her long, blonde hair into her eyes. By reflex she flipped the offending lock behind an ear.

Why was she here again? If Father found out she had run away, again, she would not be let off as easily as last time.

But Namine had no choice; if she wanted her liberty, she had to earn it. Beyond that, the second she had snuck out between the gates she had sealed her fate.

There was no turning back.

The blonde exhaled and nervously entered the train car. She had no idea what it would be like inside. Would it be crowded and smelly? Would it be full of terrorists and predators?

Who knew?

Namine was surprised by the simple tranquility of the inside. Oh, there was an occasional squeal as the subway negotiated an uncooperative stretch of track, but other than that the train was so quiet.

A blond boy resting a laptop on his knees was sitting on a seat next to the door. She decided to sit next to him.

"Excuse me, but…" she hesitated.

He looked up. "Yes?" he said.

"C-could I sit here?" she asked.

The boy nodded. "Go ahead."

Namine sat in silence, toying a bit with the little curl on the end of her flaxen hair. She took her sketchbook out of her bag. Now…what to draw?

The brunette reading a novel might be a good subject.

Namine captured her general shape with a few ovals and rectangles before starting on the face. In the girl's opinion, the head was always the most difficult area to draw, and she wanted it over with as soon as possible.

Suddenly she noticed the boy was looking over her shoulder at the drawing. Namine immediately snapped the sketchbook against her chest—she hated it when people looked over her shoulder.

"Sorry," the blond boy said quickly. "I couldn't help myself; you're really good at drawing, you know?"

She was openmouthed. No one had ever complimented her sketches before; her father had called them frivolities, her mother had called them a useless (if relaxing) pastime, and her tutors had called them worthless.

The boy continued staring at her and Namine realized that her jaw was still hanging open. She closed it.

"Thank you," she automatically replied.

"No really, they are," he insisted. "By the way…my name is Roxas. What's yours?"

Namine momentarily debated on whether to tell the obvious commoner her name, but eventually decided to. It was simple courtesy.

"Namine," she answered, before turning back to her drawing. This time she took care to angle it so that only she could see it.

"That's a nice name," Roxas remarked. He waited for her to respond, but she didn't.

After a while Namine became curious as to what Roxas was doing. She discreetly peered over the top of her sketchbook at the screen of his laptop.

The screen held a spectacular view of a majestic ship. A massive oval formed what was presumably the main hull, and twin luminescent pylons were parallel to the hull. The cursor clicked on a yellow circle superimposed over the image of the vessel and dragged to the right, rotating the view so that she could see the long, curved lower hull connecting the two upper pieces. According to the title on the top bar of the page, the ship was named "Sovereign class".

She watched, mesmerized, as a network of blue dots suddenly appeared over the skin of the ship. The cursor danced around like a one-man construction crew, pushing and pulling the dots around. Before her eyes a work of art was being hewn from oblivion.

"Wow," she whispered.

"I know, huh?"

Namine's heart skipped a beat when she heard the boy's low, dry voice. She immediately buried her nose back into the sketchbook.

"It's okay, you can look," Roxas reassured her with a half-smile. "I don't mind when people look over _my _shoulder."

"It's not polite…" she halfheartedly protested, even as she lowered her sketchbook. The drawings in there might as well have been geometric figures compared to the exquisite detail of the ship on the screen.

Namine quietly observed Roxas sculpt the starship. Every so often he would give a huff of annoyance—so much like hers whenever she made a mistake—as a vertex went out of alignment.

Finally Roxas threw his hands up. He scowled in frustration. "I give up," he growled. He made to close his laptop, but Namine placed a hand on his.

"Don't," she said. "It looks fine to me."

"What?" Roxas responded. His eyebrows went sky-high. "It's—it's—it's—ugh, I mean look at this! This part of the nacelle is totally out of alignment with the reference image, the deflector dish isn't the right shape, and the neck just won't cooperate!"

Namine giggled at his rant. "I think it looks perfect," she commented. "I don't see these supposed errors you pointed out."

"B-b-but—argh, okay, if you say so," he sighed. Then he noticed that the petite blonde's hand was still on his. "And, uhhh…"

"What?"

"Your hand. It's—it's still on mine."

Namine turned pink and pulled her hand away. "S-sorry," she stammered. Now, how to continue this conversation? She had been trained how, but this was still her first unsupervised conversation.

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Roxas had that rare gift, so prized among boys, of being able to keep his cool around hot girls.

Unfortunately, the lovely girl sitting next to him, practically on his lap, was somehow managing to crack through his exterior armor.

Oh, he was still calm and collected on the outside. But on the inside…

_Goddamn, she's hot. No, not hot, beautiful more like. I wonder what she's doing here in a place like this? I wonder if she has a boyfriend. _

_She doesn't look like it, but—WHY am I thinking stuff like this about total strangers?_

_Crap, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up…_

"Roxas," Namine began. "It is Roxas, correct?" Her strawberry breath wafted into his nose.

"Y-yeah," the CGI artist replied nervously.

"What was that program you were using just now?" she asked.

Roxas was relieved at such a mundane question, and yet for some reason he also felt disappointed. "It's called 3Ds Max," he answered. "It's meant to design and manipulate three dimensional computer models—CGI, computer generated imagery."

_How old is she? She looks my age—twenty, twenty-one?_

"Oh," she said.

"As an example…have you watched any of the Pixar movies?" he asked. "WALL-E, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life…?"

"No," she replied sadly. "I've never watched fiction films before, only a few educational videos."

Roxas frowned. "Well…there might be some CGI in those videos," he said.

She laughed. It was a tinkling, melodic sound that wouldn't have been out of place among angels of heaven.

"I don't think there would be any of this CGI magic in a video talking about proper dinner etiquette," she smiled. Her smile was like a ray of sunshine striking Roxas full in the face after a rainstorm.

_Swear to God that is the single most amazing smile I have ever seen in my entire freaking life. I really hope my mouth isn't hanging open right now._

He checked. Thankfully, it wasn't.

"So, ummm," Roxas hesitated, wondering if this question was too personal. "So, where are you headed?"

Namine thought about it. And thought. And thought. "Actually," she said, "I don't really know."

"Okay. So why are you on this train in the first place? I mean, shouldn't you be home?"

Roxas was shocked and horrified when the girl burst into tears.

"I-I r-ran away," she gulped. "M-my father w-wants m-me t-t-t-to—"

Namine didn't finish, her tears overwhelming her tongue. Roxas let her sob, awkwardly patting her shoulder. He couldn't help noticing how alluringly soft and silky the skin was.

"It's okay," he said soothingly. "Just let it out."

The blonde gradually calmed down. "I-I don't want to talk about it right now," she mumbled.

Roxas smiled. "That's okay," he remarked, settling back into his seat. "You don't have to tell me; your personal information is yours, plain and simple."

She looked at him with an expression of surprise. "You…you aren't going to force me to tell you?" she asked. No one had ever given her a choice like this before.

"What are you talking about?" he said, somewhat offended. "Of course not!"

She smiled that angelic smile of hers again. "Thank you," she whispered.

They sat, unspeaking, as the train drove on.

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I know the first chapter isn't a lot to look at, but I'm not a master of first chapters yet. I probably never will be either; my middles and endings are always better than the beginnings. I swear this will be the case with Lost and Found, and that I will practice with the beginnings.

On the other hand, beta readers are gladly welcomed. I need some pre-posting feedback.

So how'd you like Lost and Found? Hooked? Hate it?

Rave or flame using that lovely blue tool called "Review!"


	2. Kingdom Hearts Studio

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

* * *

Five long hours later, the train pulled up onto the Twilight Town stop.

Roxas got up and stretched; he took his time, knowing that the subway would wait exactly sixty seconds before leaving.

He walked to the door, but stopped when a hand grasped his arm.

"Oh!" he said. "Sorry, forgot to say goodbye." He gave Namine a little wave.

She didn't let go.

"Errr…I need my arm," Roxas pointed out. "So if you would please let go."

Namine had never been shown kindness in her entire life. Her parents had never given her any time, her tutors were at a professional distance, and her servants had never been close at all.

She had no wish to let the first person who had shown her any friendliness at all leave her.

"C-could I come with you?" she asked. She promptly berated herself for her presumptuous question and was about to take it back when…

"Okay," Roxas said. "I mean, you said you ran away, so I guess I could help you out a bit."

Namine's eyes widened. "Really?" she gasped. "I hope I'm not dreaming…"

"You're not," he replied, dragging her to the door. "Come on, we gotta hurry!"

The two made it out the door just as the subway was about to leave.

Namine turned to Roxas and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for helping me," she said shyly. "I am indebted to you."

He grinned and clapped his hands on her shoulders. "No worries," he chuckled. "I'm glad to help a person in need. We all have to be a caring community, after all."

Why he was talking like this—he never talked about altruism—he had no idea.

_Wow…I sound really cheesy right now…_

"Uhhh, Roxas?" she said. "You're still holding onto me."

He instantly, if reluctantly, released her. Funny, he was sure he hadn't nailed his hands to her shoulders.

He was also quite sure his face hadn't felt as if it were on fire a moment ago.

_Dammit—I'm blushing?_

"Roxas, what's wrong?" she asked concernedly. She took a step back. "Your face is all red."

"It's nothing!" he shouted, flapping his arms. "I mean, uhhh, I'm—I'm fine, I'm okay."

Namine looked skeptical, but she left it at that.

"So where are you going?" she inquired. The blonde promptly scolded herself again—that, too, was an insolent question.

To her surprise he apparently didn't notice or didn't care.

"I'm going to a CGI studio—I'm working there," he explained as they walked past a group of bicyclers. "My brother offered me the job."

"Oh," Namine said. "How close is it?"

Roxas looked at her and snickered. "Tired already, are we?" he teased.

"No!" she retorted. "I simply wanted to know how far…away…we…were…"

That sounded like a lame excuse even to its user, mainly because it basically confirmed Roxas's teasing.

He gave her a surprised look. "How often do you get out?" he asked. "After all, the walk's barely a mile, and your skin's so pale…"

"Not often," Namine sighed. "I remember the first time I saw the sun—I was, ummm, eight, I think. Or was I twelve? But either way, this is the first time I've been out in the sun for more than ten minutes."

"That's not too healthy," Roxas muttered. He suddenly had an evil idea. "So, Namine…how fast can you run?"

Her head snapped up from where it had been studying the asphalt tiles of the sidewalk. "What?" she yelped.

Roxas was already ten feet away, running backwards and waving to her.

"Roxas, wait!" she shouted. Without realizing it she began to pick up speed. "Wait, don't leave me!"

"Gotta catch me!" he cackled, before turning back around and sprinting away.

Namine couldn't run for more than thirty feet before being forced to stop to catch her breath. When she looked up again she couldn't recognize anything. She backed up and nearly fell off the curb. She whirled around, scanning everything, anything, for Roxas.

"Oh no. Oh, no nononono…Where is he?"

Panic gripped her heart and squeezed, hard. She started hyperventilating, breaths coming in fast and shallow.

"I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm lost, oh no," she moaned. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh no. What am I going to do?"

She backed against a wall, crying. Tears fell from her eyes, dripping onto her jacket and skirt.

"Roxas, come back," she croaked. But she knew it was futile to call him back; he might be a mile away now, for all she knew.

Then she heard his voice.

"Namine, I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't know you couldn't run, and—and—and—" he was in front of her, apologizing profusely.

Namine shook and shook, unable to control her skyrocketing pulse. As a last resort she stepped forward and hugged him, hard, trying to find solace in his chest.

He fell silent and hugged her back, soothing her. When she finally calmed down, he let go and stepped back, but still kept a solid grip on her forearms.

"I'm sorry, Namine. I'll never do that again," he pleaded. "Can you forgive me?"

She took a deep breath to rein in the last of her shaken nerves. "Alright," she said. "Just—just don't do this again, please. You really scared me."

Roxas nodded. "I promise. Your shivering scared me worse—I thought you were going to have a heart attack."

"C-can we go now?" she stammered. Namine had no desire to be reminded of the sheer terror she'd felt when Roxas left her behind.

Roxas wrapped an arm around her shoulder and did not let go, holding her to him like he was afraid he might lose her again.

Because he was.

* * *

"Kingdom Hearts Studios," Namine murmured. "That's a beautiful name."

KH Studio was a medium-sized, three-story office building. It was constructed of grey concrete, and the noon sun glinted off of the tinted windows.

"A beautiful name for an ugly building," Roxas remarked. He opened the door and motioned for her to follow. "Come on!"

Namine had been expecting a reception lounge, or at least a foyer. Instead she stepped into an unfurnished room.

"Are you sure this is really the studio?" she asked. "It looks so…I don't know, empty."

Roxas strode over to the door. "This is the place, trust—GAAAAHHHH!"

The door burst open and a brunette man leaped out.

"How ya doin', Roxas!" he shouted.

"God. Damn. It. Sora. I'd have been fine, if you hadn't planned to give me a freaking heart attack!" Roxas yelled back.

Sora laughed and clapped Roxas on the back. "You always were a wuss, Roxas," he chuckled.

"I'll show you wuss, ya big lug—"

"Bring it, short stuff!"

Namine smiled slightly as she watched the two brothers playfully scuffle.

"They're fighting each other, and yet I can see they really do care about each other," she whispered. She sighed. "I've never seen love so strong…"

"Hi there!" a cheerful voice greeted Namine. A smiling, auburn-haired woman walked out of the door. "I'm Kairi," she said. "Sora's wife."

"My name is Namine," the blonde replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Kairi declared. "Are you Roxas's girlfriend?"

Namine's mind blanked with shock. "W-what makes you think _that_?" she stammered, quickly shaking her head. "I-I just met him on a subway!"

Kairi nodded knowingly. "A whirlwind romance, hmmm?" she sighed. "Sora and I met the same way."

Namine blushed furiously. "He agreed to help me!" she protested. She looked sadly at her feet. "I…I'm a runaway…"

The woman's face morphed into an expression of sympathy. Kairi reached out and gently patted Namine's shoulder. "That's okay," the redhead woman murmured.

"We can help you," Sora declared as he gave giving a struggling Roxas a noogie.

Once again, Namine was surprised beyond belief. She was beginning to believe that such incredible kindness was the norm rather than the exception.

Roxas reached up, got a hold of Sora's ear, and twisted. In response the brunette ground his knuckles even more deeply into Roxas's scalp.

Kairi was having none of the alpha-male bonding.

"Break it up, both of you!" she shouted sharply.

Roxas and Sora immediately jumped away from each other. "He started it!" they both cried, pointing at the other accusingly.

"Regardless of who started it," Kairi said dangerously, "Don't you think we should give Namine here a tour of the studio?"

"Thank…you," Namine said. She was stunned for the third time in a row. These people didn't even know her, and yet they were offering her a tour? And offering to help her away from her father?

Was benevolence like this the norm or the exception?

* * *

"This here is the motion capture room. Our two artists are Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart."

A pale blonde man and a brunette woman, both wearing strange devices on various limb and torso joints, were mock dueling. As the woman, Tifa, threw a right hook, the man, Cloud, caught her elbow and drew her in for a quick smooch. She leaned into his embrace before both noticed they had visitors.

Tifa slapped Cloud, hard, knocking the still smiling blonde man away.

"Sorry about that," she said calmly, all the while glaring at Cloud. "I assure you he won't be doing that in public again."

Namine and Roxas tried their hardest to restrain giggles and barely succeeded.

Sora grabbed their shoulders, pulled them away, and conducted them to the next room.

"This is our lighting and effects room," he explained. "This is where we do all the crazy explosions and lasers and what have you. This is Axel and that's Zexion."

A redheaded man and a boy reading a book were the L&E artists.

"I'm Axel," the redhead declared. "The emo one is Zexion. Got it memorized?"

Zexion glared at Axel. "For your information, I am not emo. You, on the other hand, are a pyromaniac jackass."

"At least I'm not in denial," the redhead retorted.

The next room was marked "Animation and CS".

"Larxene's our resident psychopath and character studio master," Sora said. "Unfortunately, she's horrible at animation, which is where Demyx comes in."

A man with a blond mullet, presumably Demyx, nodded at Sora and grinned and gave a little wave at the newcomers, before turning back to his computer.

The blonde woman, Larxene, seated in an office chair glowered at the brunette man. "I'm not horrible at animation," she sniffed. "It's just not my specialty."

"Bigheaded as always, Bug-Hair," Demyx smirked.

Before "Bug-Hair" could respond, Sora led Namine and Roxas to the second-to-last room.

"This is where the real meat of 3D sculpturing is done," Sora declared. "May I present: Modeling and Mapping!"

The room itself was unimpressive. One hundred square feet exactly, it had three computers instead of the other rooms' two. A single brunette girl was seated in a single office chair.

"Xion here has been overworked and underpaid ever since she got here," Sora stated. "Roxas, you're going to be doing the mapping while Xion does the modeling."

The spiky-headed blond nodded. "Yeah, I'm best at mapping."

"Glad to hear that," Xion snorted. She leaned back in her chair. "I'm not arrogant like Larxene, so I'll admit I absolutely suck at mapping. It's nice to have a specialist in that area here."

As they headed for the last room, Namine asked Sora, "Why is it nobody asked who I was?"

"Probably because they all assume you're a new employee like Roxas," he replied.

"Speaking of employees, your artists act more like a big family. They don't have any professional distance," she observed. She wanted to add, "Like they should", but she felt that that was pushing it a bit too far. "Why is that?"

Sora grinned. "Because we all know each other. I'm less their boss than their big brother."

* * *

That bit about KH Studios having specialists in different areas is my own observation. Although everyone has to be able to perform multiple roles, I've seen that different 3D artists have different areas in which they do better or worse in, depending on their work ethic, work speed, and even their personality.

For example, a patient, creative, and persevering guy would likely do best on the slow-and-steady (and often frustrating) Modeling work.

Personally, I'm best at Modeling and Particle Flow (Axel's job). My Mapping, though, sucks like a bucket of ticks, to paraphrase from Final Fantasy Gil Quest.

Lecture over. And if my information is horribly wrong, feel free to flame me for it and correct me.


	3. Nicknames

I really hope I don't confuse a story with another again…

Like LAST time…

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just the story itself. Enjoy!

* * *

Roxas gently rotated the camera to give the only view possible down the corridor of the warp nacelle.

"Just a little more," he hissed, shoulders tensing and sweat prickling his back.

"Loosen up, will ya?" Xion said, rolling her eyes. "This isn't MI3 or anything, you know."

"I've screwed up the view three times already!" Roxas yelled, throwing up his arms. "Do you know how difficult these cameras are?"

"Yes…"

"ARGH!"

"Jeez, calm down, Roxy-Woxy," Xion snickered. "PMSing is not good for your health, okay?"

Roxas's eye twitched a little at his new nickname, but he managed to keep his voice level.

"Roxy-Woxy? What the hell kind of name is that?"

"We all have handles here," she explained. "Makes communication a bit easier."

"And what's your handle, pray tell?"

Xion turned red and looked down at her feet.

"Say again?" Roxas didn't know why she was acting that way, but he was certainly enjoying the turning of the tables.

She mumbled something so quietly Roxas couldn't hear.

"Speak up, I can't hear you…" he teased.

"Doll," she mumbled slightly louder. "My nickname's Doll."

Doll? That didn't sound embarrassing at all.

"That's not…such a bad nickname…" Roxas murmured. "It's better than Roxy-Woxy."

"That's because you don't know the history behind it," she said sadly, before bursting into tears.

Roxas didn't know what to do, so he just awkwardly patted her on the back.

When she had calmed sufficiently, Roxas asked, "So…what is the history of that handle, or whatever you call it?"

Xion laughed humorlessly. "You were a nice fuck, doll. Not bad," she quoted.

"What?" Roxas said incredulously.

"That's what my first boyfriend said to me after he took my virginity and left me," she replied. "Sora knew about it."

"Then why the hell would he give you such a horrible nickname?" Roxas asked. "I mean…"

"He thought it would help me get over that bastard," she sniffed. Xion smiled a little more brightly. "He was right, too. I can recall this memory now without crying ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Now, it's more like ninety-eight out of a hundred."

Both chuckled a bit at her morbid joke.

An awkward silence pervaded the atmosphere afterwards. Roxas broke it.

"So, Larxene's nickname is Bug-Hair, right?"

She giggled. "Yep. But you probably shouldn't use it to her face; only Axel and Sora can get away with that."

"But Demyx did," he recalled.

"Well, she's probably going to kick his ass later for it," Xion remarked. "Speaking of Demyx, his handle is Water Boy, because that's what he was in his high school football team."

"And Axel?"

"His is Pyro. For obvious reasons."

"Enlighten me."

"One, he does all the explosions and fireworks. Two, he's a pyromaniac. Third, I swear to God he has, like, a million lighters on him."

He became a little nervous at the last two. "Zexion?"

"Emo-Boy. Also not to be said in his face."

Roxas laughed. "Tifa?"

"Bouncy. I mean, her body's impossible! That mega-pervert Demyx gets a nosebleed practically every time he sees her!"

The blond CGI artist whistled at his memory of Tifa's voluptuous figure.

"What about Cloud?"

"He doesn't have one. Don't you think that Cloud is a unique name?"

"Sounds like it. By the way, is he Tifa's boyfriend or something?"

"Fiancé."

"Oh. And Sora?"

"He doesn't have one either, but that's because we respect him too much."

"Really? Why?"

"He helped all of us." Xion's voice was soft and nostalgic. "He lifted us out of our own personal hells and recognized in all of us great potential. We all owe everything to him."

Roxas was in awe. He'd never have thought his goof-off brother was so altruistic and benevolent to others; Sora had certainly never shown it at home.

* * *

Kairi led Namine to the third floor.

"This is our recreation area," the auburn-haired woman explained. "Lunch, video games, you name it, we do it here."

The blonde timidly stepped into the indicated room. Namine had only just begun to feel comfortable even being here, thanks to repeated assurances from Kairi and Sora that she was a welcomed guest.

There were three people there. Axel and Demyx were playing a video game, while Zexion was reading a book.

"H-hi," she stuttered.

Axel looked up, momentarily stopping the game, and turned to greet her. After a second of hesitation, Demyx followed suit.

"Hi," the redhead smiled. "You're Namine, right?"

"Yes," she said, surprised. "Almost no one pronounces my name correctly the first time."

"Well, I'm just skilled like that," he declared. "Got it memorized?"

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Got it memorized, got it memorized. Of course she's got it, moron! You don't have to tell her!"

Axel stuck his tongue out at his colleague. "You're just jealous because you don't have a catchphrase!" he retorted.

Namine knew it was rude to giggle at the two's argument, but she couldn't help it. Demyx and Axel's little quibble reminded her in many ways of bickering spouses.

"Aw man, now even Namine's laughing at us!" Demyx complained.

Even?

Namine turned around to see Zexion smiling slightly. Somehow she knew he was restraining a laugh.

She turned back around to see Demyx and Axel already back to their game. After setting her bag on another table, she kneeled down behind them and studied the TV screen, again riveted.

"What is this game referred to as?" she asked.

"Gears of War 2," Axel replied. "It's a sci-fi third-person shooter."

"Right now, we're playing on cooperative mode," Demyx added. "I prefer it to competitive because everybody kicks my ass in that mode."

On-screen, Axel's character raised his gun and swung it at a monster in front of him. Namine's eyes went wide as the gun, making a loud buzzing noise, cut straight through the monster, causing a fountain of blood and gore to jet out of the massive wound.

"Oh my," she squeaked. "That…was unexpected."

Demyx chuckled. "That's called a chainsaw kill. Expect to see a lot of those happening."

She tried to imagine what that chainsaw would do to her. She pictured it: the chainsaw gun crashed onto her head, splitting it open, and continuing to—

Namine forced the image out of her mind; she would be unable to sleep at all if she didn't.

She continued to watch as Axel and Demyx shot down enemy after enemy, occasionally making another chainsaw kill. She closed her eyes every time that happened, but she was never quite fast enough to escape the howl of agony as the weapon bit into skin.

"Namine, it's over. You can open your eyes now," Axel said, clearly amused by her revulsion.

"I hope this isn't some cruel joke," she muttered. But when she opened her eyes she saw that Axel had been telling the truth.

The man himself looked a bit offended. "Do you not trust or something?" he asked a bit angrily.

"No! It's—it's just that I've…I've been a victim of too many," she mumbled. Nostalgia hit her, but it was not a pleasant feeling.

Axel's expression softened immediately. "I'm sorry," he murmured. He set a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Namine sighed. "Don't be. You didn't do it."

The sound of a door creaking open made both of them jump.

"Hiya, Snowball," Larxene yawned. "Could you step back for a second?"

"My name is—" Namine was cut off when Larxene pushed her out the door. It slammed shut in her face just as she attempted to walk back in.

"How rude," she huffed. Unfortunately the artist knew that there was nothing she could do about it, so she decided to check on Roxas.

_Wait…why am I so concerned about him? He knows nothing of me, and I know nothing of him!_

"Maybe it's because he's my benefactor," she noted. "Yeah, that sounds somewhat reasonable."

Somewhat, her mind told her.

What, was she in love with him or something?

Namine immediately dismissed that notion. Love was irrelevant and a waste of mind power better spent on other things.

So why did she feel a pang when she saw Roxas in a passionate embrace with Xion?

* * *

"How could you!" Larxene yelled. "I thought you loved me!"

"I do!" Axel replied, dodging a slap. "Just lemme explain!"

"That you're cheating on me?"

"I'm not!" Axel protested. "Ow!"

Larxene had punched him in the jaw. "Then explain why you were touching the new girl!"

"I was comforting her!"

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh? Some pretty girl shows up and you're all over her!"

"She told me she had had a bitchy life!"

"SO?"

"I was just trying to make her feel better!" Axel stopped trying to defend himself and kneeled at Larxene's feet. "Larxene, I'd only ever see her as a little sister," he pleaded. "My heart still belongs with you."

She wasn't impressed.

"Show me proof!" Larxene shouted.

Axel smirked. "Fine. You asked for it."

And before she could take back her demand, he'd swept her off her feet. Axel brought his face to within three inches of hers, closed, and met her lips with his.

"Do you still think I'm lying?" he whispered into their kiss.

"Yes."

He smiled. "You're never satisfied."

"Damn straight," she smiled back.

They stayed like that for what seemed like several centuries. Then…

"Ahem."

Larxene and Axel pulled away from each other to see Zexion with an annoyed expression on his face.

"If you don't mind," he growled, pointing at the door.

Axel set Larxene down, but before he could do anything else she dragged him into the hallway.

She smiled coyly. "This is the fun part," she snickered, before hooking her hands into Axel's jeans waistband.

Inside the rec room, Demyx and Zexion could only stare at the door and the pleasured moans coming from outside it.

They glanced at each other for a second, held each other's gaze, and guffawed.

"Whoa! Ha, that was awesome! Too bad you had to drive them out…"

"Moving beyond that, I seem to recall that you owe me ten bucks."

"Dammit, I thought you'd forgotten!"

"I never forget."

Axel and Larxene had—_were—_making up after a fight.

But downstairs, another drama was brewing…

* * *

Aw, Zexi, you're no fun.

So how'd you like the third installment of "Lost and Found"?

Speak your mind with the blue button titled "REVIEW"!


	4. Her Pursuers

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Naminé just stood there, shocked.

Before her, Roxas and Xion were locked in a lover's embrace. His faint whispering only enhanced the horrible effect.

"R-Roxas?" the blonde said. For some reason she could comprehend about as well as an ant could comprehend astronavigation, there was a dull, throbbing pain in the center of her chest.

Roxas and Xion jerked away from each other, blushing and clearly embarrassed.

"Naminé!" the blond CGI artist said a bit more loudly than he'd intended. "How are you?"

The blonde girl shook out of her trance. "I am fine," she replied coldly, before turning on her heel and walking away.

"Naminé!" his worried voice shouted after her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He easily caught up with her. "Tell me," he insisted. "You look upset, and frankly, you're not good at hiding it."

She glared at him. "My emotions are none of your business," she said.

"Well, at least could you tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Is it because I was hugging Xion?"

Naminé froze. Had her feelings been that obvious?

"Is it?"

"No," she finally responded.

Roxas sighed. "If not…then how can I make it up to you? I just wanted to befriend you," he muttered.

"And who do you think you are, treating Roxas like that?" an angered voice yelled from behind them. "He did nothing wrong!"

Xion strode towards the blonde. "What makes you think you have any right to even be here?" the models specialist continued. "In my opinion you're just a con artist!"

"Xion, stop it!" Roxas pleaded. "I believe her!"

Naminé ignored him. "If that is what you think of me, then I'll simply leave," she replied icily.

"Naminé, wait!"

"That's a common tactic, play being insulted."

The blonde stiffened. She could bear the offense of anything else, but being calling her something she wasn't—in this case a manipulator of guilt—was the only thing that could really get to her.

"What did you just say?" she asked quietly.

"I said, you're playing being insulted," Xion sneered. "Isn't that right?"

"No."

"Liar."

"What do you have against me?" Naminé said calmly. "My connection to Roxas? Or was this simply over my being more attractive than you?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Xion, NO!"

_CRACK._

The muted sound of the punch reverberated down the hallway.

"It'll take more than that to break me," Naminé murmured, even as a large bruise formed along her jaw.

Roxas grabbed Xion's forearms before the brunette could do anything else.

"Both of you need to calm down and apologize," he stated firmly.

Xion gave him a pleading gaze.

"_Now_."

Naminé was the first to speak. "I apologize if I have offended you in any way," she said coolly.

The brunette glared at her. "Damn straight."

"Xion."

"…Fine…I'm sorry. There. Is that good enough?" With that she broke free of Roxas and stormed off.

The blond looked at Naminé to see staring, wide-eyed, out the window.

"Nami—"

"They're here!"

Roxas was baffled by the blonde's sudden fear. "Who's here?" he asked.

She grabbed his arms in a surprisingly strong grip, her eyes wild with terror. "They're here!" she choked again. "Hide me, anywhere, please!"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"I telling you, this 'Naminé' girl isn't here!" Sora protested.

The man with the eyepatch sneered. "Bullshit."

"I'm calling the—AH!" the studio boss staggered back, clutching at his stomach.

"Do we have to ask again?" the other trench coat wearing man yawned. His long pink hair would have looked ridiculous if he wasn't wearing brass knuckles.

"I'm calling the—"

Sora froze when he heard the distinctive noise of a gun being cocked.

"Honey? Who is it?"

"Kairi, stay up there!" he called back. He turned back to the two men.

Eyepatch Guy snorted. "You tell us or I pop a cap in you."

"And what about the cops, huh?" Sora shot back.

"Cops are easy enough to circumvent," Pink Hair smirked. "God knows how many times we've done that."

Sora was torn. On the one hand, he couldn't just give Naminé to the two men—who knew what they were going to do with her? But on the other…well, they had him at gunpoint.

Just who was the mysterious blonde anyways?

"She's not here," Sora said finally.

The trigger slowly depressed…

"Or at least I don't think she is," he added quickly. "You can come up and check if you want."

Eyepatch Guy raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he inquired.

Sora was already through the door. He jumped to the side as two bullets sailed into the wall he'd been standing in front of a heartbeat before.

"What the hell?" he demanded, slamming his back against the wall. "I said you could come and look!"

"We don't trust you," Pink Hair called.

"I'm giving you the chance to look yourself, dammit! Isn't that the ultimate way of proving she isn't here?"

"We don't trust you."

"Do I have to remind you that you have a gun?"

A moment passed before the reply came.

"Fine," Eyepatch Guy said. "But anything funny and we smoke you. Clear?"

"Crystal," Sora responded sarcastically. He thought about adding 'asshole' to it but obviously knew better than that.

The three tromped up the stairs, Sora in the lead with Eyepatch Guy pointing a pistol at his back. Pink Hair was last.

A quick check of the second floor came up with nothing but a man and a woman (Tifa and Cloud had broken their vow not to make out in public, _again_) and a certain still-angry brunette girl.

"What do you want, Sora?" Xion snapped.

The studio boss made sure to shift so that his torso hid the gun. He had no wish for somebody to get hurt, and the brunette CGI artist looked especially volatile today.

"Just checking, Doll," Sora replied smoothly. "Be sure to finish that bridge today, okay?"

"Fine, whatever…"

Sora, Eyepatch Guy, and Pink Hair were already making their way to the stairs. Then they saw what was happening at the top and quickly backed down to the second floor.

"AXEL! LARXENE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Larxene pulled her face away from Axel's…uh…

"It's the hormones, I swear!" she yelled.

Then she turned towards the open door of the rec room. "Quickly," she hissed.

"Almost…got…it…" Roxas's voice was strained with effort.

"We're done here!" Bug-Hair called. "You—you can come up now!"

A pair of sneakers and two of combat boots heralded the approach of their wearers. Eyepatch Guy made no attempt to hide his weapon.

"What the hell are you—?"

"Axel, cool it!" Sora said sharply. "They say they're looking for some chick named Naminé."

When she heard that, Naminé ground her teeth, her annoyance momentarily breaking through her fear. _Chick_?

Eyepatch Guy rudely pushed past Axel, earning a discreet birdie from the redhead, and scanned the room with his gun out.

A blond and a brunette were seated on the ground, playing a third-person-shooter game. A redheaded woman and a guy with a blond mullet were on the couch behind them, cheering them on. Then they noticed they had visitors.

"Okay," Roxas said slowly, setting down the Xbox controller. "Put down the gun, Mister…"

"You don't need to know that," Eyepatch Guy replied. "Now, where is she?"

"Where's who?" Zexion asked innocently. Roxas had somehow shanghaied Emo-Boy into playing Gears of War 2 with him. The black-haired man had still insisted on taking Marcus, though.

Pink Hair grabbed his collar. "Don't play innocent, punk," he said coldly. "We know she's here."

Naminé barely restrained a gasp of horror when she heard the sickeningly dull _thud_ noise of fist impacting flesh.

Zexion simply gave Pink Hair a quizzical look. "Was that supposed to hurt?" the bookish CGI artist taunted.

The brass knuckles were raised again, but Eyepatch Guy firmly placed a hand on Pink Hair's arm.

"She's not here," the one-eyed man stated. "There's no more reason to stay."

Pink Hair glared at Eyepatch Guy, and then Zexion. "You're just lucky my partner's having a good day," he snarled, before roughly hurling Zexion to the floor.

Combat boots clomped down two flights of stairs.

"Bastards weren't even polite enough to close the door," Sora muttered.

This drew chuckles from the gathered CGI artists.

A loud _THUD _followed by a moan of pain only made them laugh even harder.

"Yes, yes, laugh at the clumsy one," Naminé grumbled, sitting up and clutching her sore arm. She stared up at the fluorescent ceiling lamp. "What a fall."

Roxas, still snickering a bit, kneeled down in front of the dazed blonde. He stopped laughing when he noticed her injury.

"That looks pretty bad," he observed, gently feeling the arm for any fractures.

Naminé shrieked and grabbed at her arm, shaking in agony. "My arm…!"

"Dammit!" Roxas cursed. "Looks like it's broken. We have to take her to a hospital."

"Lemme get a splint," Kairi said, scrambling out of the room. She came back a moment later with a piece of cardboard and a few rags.

"Rip these into five—no, six—pieces," she ordered, thrusting the rags at Sora and Axel.

She kneeled down. "Hold Naminé's arm in a straight line," she told Roxas.

To her credit the blonde girl didn't let out a sound the whole time. She did, however, have tears running down her cheeks.

"Brave girl," Roxas soothed, gently wiping away the tears with his thumb.

When Kairi had finished securing Naminé's arm, Roxas picked her up bridal style, being sure to rest her splinted arm on his, and carried her to the garage in the back.

"You can let her walk, you know," Sora commented. "Or did you want to carry her like that?"

Both blushed, but neither made to switch.

KH Studios had an SUV, presumably to carry all the CGI artists, so he was able to lay Naminé down in the back seat.

Every time there was a bump in the road she would gasp as her arm shifted, but one soothing touch to her arm somehow managed to drain away the pain.

Naminé wondered where said pain had gone. Had she simply gotten used to it? Or was the feeling of him what smothered and numbed the pain?

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Just so you know, that last could be interpreted in several ways.

REVIEW-Y-Y-Y! PWEASE!

You know I wub weviews…


	5. Falling Out

So sorry about the long wait, guys. I have chronic writer's block with this story simply because I have little inspiration for it even on good days.

This is the best I could come up with—I hope there's no flames.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Enter hospital, get checked in, get treated, get out, get back. All in all, the trip to and from the place took an hour.

"Sora?"

The man turned around to see Naminé fiddling with her cast. "Yes?" he replied.

"I have to tell you—everyone—something," she said nervously.

_This is it…How are they going to react?_

"What is it?" Roxas said.

Naminé took a deep breath. Exhaled.

"My last name is…Xemnas."

The shocked silence that followed was like that of outer space—no sound, no feeling, not even the rushing of air through air.

"Your name is Naminé Xemnas?" Kairi said a bit more loudly than she intended. "Daughter of THE Terra Xemnas?"

The blonde flinched. "Yes," she muttered. "But I'd prefer if you didn't say it so loudly…I'm not too proud of my status…"

"Why not?" Roxas asked.

"Because my only purpose is to be a tool of my father's," she mumbled. "I'm not even considered human in his household, just a—WAAHHH!"

"O—kay, let's cut out the emo stuff," Roxas interrupted, grabbing Naminé's good arm and dragging her up the stairs. "Let's go and relax in the rec room—telling depressing stories is no way to deal with stress."

"But—!" she protested, but she didn't resist.

Once she and Roxas were gone, Kairi turned to her husband. "So she's Xemnas's kid?" she muttered.

Sora grimaced. "That explains those two guys who came around earlier," he sighed.

"And that—that gun they pulled on you?" The redhead's voice cracked slightly at 'gun'.

"Yeah…" Sora pulled his wife into a tight hug.

"Oh, god, I thought I'd get a heart attack when I heard those gunshots. And then that guy with an eyepatch comes in with you at gunpoint…" Kairi began shaking, but steeled herself and pulled away from Sora.

The brown-haired man scratched his head. "We better tread carefully from now on—if Naminé is seen around here again, they're gonna come back," he remarked. "And from the looks of them, they won't give up the second time around."

"So what're we gonna do?" she inquired. "I'm a bit too nervous about you idiots to think."

Sora snorted in derision. "_Idiots_?" he replied, with an unauthorized smile tugging at his lips.

She glared at him. "Yes, idiots. Or morons, or numbskulls, or whatever. You boys always get in the craziest situations," she growled. "And I always get front-row seats, thanks to my luck."

His smile widened into a smirk. He stepped closer, forcing Kairi to take a step back lest they collide. "Well, you'll be on stage for this one…" he murmured.

She laughed. "You suck at pick-up lines," she teased, smiling slyly.

He gave her an equally mischievous smile. "Wasn't that one of the things you found so charming about me when we first met?" he whispered. Now their faces were barely six inches apart.

"Key word, 'was'," she smirked. Four inches.

"Oh, how this woman is able to kill me inside," he moaned mockingly. Two inches.

"You were also a horrible kisser," she added, her grin only widening. One inch.

"Let's see how much I've improved, then…"

Half-inch, quarter-inch, eighth-inch—

"Whoa…"

"Wow…"

"I cannot believe my own boss—"

Sora and Kairi jerked their heads up to see Axel and Larxene staring down, incredulity written all over their faces. The redhead woman immediately shoved her husband away, both apparently embarrassed.

"I'll make up for that tonight," she said softly.

"I'm looking forward to it," he grinned back.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Naminé's fingers moved to her cast, but she stopped them at the last second when he turned to glare at her. Roxas had threatened to tie her good arm behind her back "if you don't stop fiddling with that thing, because I don't want you to loosen it and make your arm worse!"

She couldn't help it, though—the feeling of cement and cloth encasing her arm was strange, to say the least. The cast was also itchy, and heavy, and smelled like hospital antiseptic, which for some reason could irritate her sense of smell like no other odor could.

"But—but it feels weird!" she complained. "And the smell is offensive to my sense as an artist!"

Roxas's eye twitched. "It's a cast, Naminé. Have you ever been to the hospital?"

"No…there was always the doctor at home…"

"Yep, being the only daughter of Terra Xemnas must be brutal," he muttered, leading her to the couch.

"Not—not really," she replied, her voice cracking. "So long as I obeyed him and didn't embarrass him in front of daily guests, my daily rations and schedule would not be…interrupted."

His eye's tic was not helped by that revelation. "He…STARVED…you…if you made him look bad in front of guests?" he snarled through clenched teeth. "What a _terrible_ father."

Her head shook wildly. "No, no, no, no, no," she hurriedly said. "It wasn't as bad as you think."

"It was worse? Now I can't even imagine—"

"No, Father was not a monster to me, and don't make him out to be one!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious! He didn't abuse me or do anything of the sort…" Naminé mumbled. She was lying through her teeth, but she felt as if she should defend her father for some reason.

The eyebrow inched ever higher.

"Roxas, this is my family we're talking about!"

"Just because your father's your family doesn't mean he gets to treat you like that," Roxas argued. "You were just a thing in his home, not his supposedly beloved daughter!"

"I am his beloved daughter!"

"Then why did you have to run away?"

It was a low blow and he knew it. "Naminé—"

Pain flitted across her delicate features.

"Naminé, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like—"

"Then why did you even say it?" she retorted.

The blond CGI artist mentally cursed himself as Naminé strode away.

"Told you she was a bitch," a snide voice called from behind him.

Roxas whirled around to see Xion leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, wearing a sneer of triumph.

"And what would you know of that?" he replied coldly.

"It's an act, Roxy-Woxy, an act—she's playing you as the damsel in distress," the brunette said airily. "She's gonna twist you around her finger and squeeze everything out of you."

"Naminé isn't like that," he snarled.

"How would you know?" she shot back, picking at her fingernails.

"I can feel it," he admitted. "I know for a fact that I don't know how I know for a fact she's in legit trouble."

"With the law?"

"Shut up."

Xion's smirking face turned into a cold scowl. "I'd watch my step around that girl, Roxas," she said, turning for the stairs. "I've seen women like her break men's hearts like they were worth nothing."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Naminé needed some fresh air. The outdoors had always calmed her, and while for her being outdoors meant sticking a head out a window, she slowly let her resentment at Roxas drain away.

That in itself was strange—she had inherited her father's ability to hold grudges against anybody, even her mother. Staying angry at a virtual stranger like Roxas should have been easier than breathing for her.

And yet, there was just something about him that soothed her. She had known him for a grand total of less than eight hours, and yet she felt as if they had been in close contact for their entire lives.

The tilt of his head, the slight rasp of his husky voice, the way his lapis eyes shone whenever a stray ray of sunlight struck them—now, those features of her helper all seemed as familiar as a lover's embrace to Naminé.

She sighed and leaned against the wall of the studio. Her fingers tapped a gentle beat against the cloth of her cast as if the restraint was a row of piano keys. It was her way of distracting herself from the world whenever she slipped into a fond memory…

…

_The gentle rhythm of a piano theme tinkled through the open window. The young woman sat by the side of a tiny blonde girl._

"_Now, Naminé, first you tap these keys, then these…"_

_Six-year-old Naminé watched in rapture as her mother's slender fingers deftly slid across the white-and-black row of rectangles, causing an array of perfect notes to erupt from the depths of the black block of wood sitting in front of them._

"_How can I remember all those keys?" she whined._

_Stella laughed. "You can, because I can. You'd be surprised at how good your memory can be at storing these kinds of things."_

"_I'm not ever going to be as good as you…"_

_The woman frowned. "Come on, Naminé, what's wrong with one try?"_

"_Nothing, I guess," the daughter mumbled, placing her fingers in position._

_The first try was just as terrible as Naminé had expected. Stella sighed and thought for a moment, thinking back on how her own mother had taught her the art of piano playing._

"_Naminé, close your eyes," she ordered. "Then try again, using only your memory of how I played."_

_The girl gave a very adult sigh of her own before doing as she was instructed. Small eyelids slid shut and stubby fingers began tapping at white keys._

_This time the result was almost exactly like her mother's handling of the piano…_

…

Ice blue eyes cracked open and pale pink lips curved into a nostalgic smile as Naminé realized she had been playing that very same tune on her cast.

One look at the darkened sky told her all she needed to know. "Better head inside," she muttered, pulling down at the doorknob.

_Uh-oh, it's locked._

Naminé fumed for a moment before looking around for anything she could use for shelter. There was a piece of cardboard lying in the alley next to the office building.

"Hi."

She turned around, balancing the cardboard on her head and good hand, to see three kids looking at her.

"Hello," she replied nervously.

The blond teenager in front, obviously the leader, stepped forward. "Do you need help?"

"Yes. I was accidentally locked out of this building," Naminé said, pointing at the door of KH Studio.

"We can help you with that," the brunette girl replied. She dug into her pocket and extracted a long pin, before striding over to the door and stabbing at the lock.

"By the way, she's Olette, I'm Pence, and he's Hayner," the third boy, a chubby brunette, offered shyly.

"Well, thank all of you for helping me, Hayner, Olette, Pence," Naminé smiled.

"No problem," Hayner chuckled, giving her a thumb's-up.

"Done. Just helping a fellow citizen in need," Olette said, pocketing the pick.

Naminé waved good-bye to her three saviors before trying the door. It opened.

"I'm never taking the indoors for granted again," she muttered. "If those three kids hadn't been nearby…"

The question came into her head again.

Why were all these people helping her, a total stranger?

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Pathetic end and a bad flashback, I know. That's what I get for writing this over the course of the (only) one and a half hours I have as free time.

REVIEWS PLZ!


	6. Yukionna

Yes, I'm a Trekkie. I only like Star Trek for the ships, though.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

Xxx XXX xxX

Roxas placed a hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Naminé, I'm sorry about what I said, and I hope you won't hold it over me," he exhaled. "I know I can't possibly know what your life was like, and I know my comment was stupid and rude."

"If you really meant that, then apology accepted," a familiarly melodic voice sang from behind him.

He whirled to see Naminé giving him that angelic slight smile of hers. "Well, that's a relief," he grinned back. "I don't want you as an enemy."

"Neither do I," she replied. "You, I mean."

"Roxas! Naminé! Get down here!"

"Coming, Sora!" Roxas called. "Wonder what they want…"

The first floor may have been a reception floor, but it also had a small conference room in the back. The room was well-furnished with a polished oak table and several elegantly carved chairs.

Sora, Kairi, Cloud, and Tifa were seated on one side of the table.

"Take a seat," the studio boss invited, gesturing at the six remaining.

The two blondes chose two chairs next to each other, opposite from Kairi and Cloud.

"Naminé, you said you're a runaway," Sora began.

"Yes?" the blonde replied. "And?"

"Do you have a place to stay?"

Naminé froze. She hadn't thought about that.

"N-no," she admitted, squeezing her cast tightly and looking down at her lap. "I-I didn't."

Kairi smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Cloud and Tifa have agreed to let you live in their apartment."

The artist jerked her head up. "I—I can't take advantage of them like that!" she protested.

"Relax," Tifa chuckled. "We volunteered."

"We—all of us—heard about your life," Cloud added. "We felt that you need some time away from your father."

The world suddenly felt blurry and indistinct to Naminé as she fought to check her rising emotions. She'd never felt like anybody cared about her before this.

"You—you're—th-thank you," she choked, barely keeping in tears. "All of you. This…your offers to help me like this…"

"Also, you're a great artist," Kairi stated. "Roxas showed me your sketchbook and the drawings are incredible."

"We think you would also make a good concept artist," Sora said.

"A what?" Naminé asked.

"A concept artist is someone who visualizes and sketches the things the CGI artists bring to life," Roxas explained.

"You're—you're offering me a job, too?" By this point Naminé was beyond shock. First these people take her in, then they give her a home, and now…

"I take it you don't know what the word 'altruism' is?" Kairi inquired.

"I-I do," the blonde whispered. Tears of gratitude ran down her pale cheeks and she hugged herself to make sure this wasn't a dream.

_This is real. These…these people…they want to help me._

A warm pair of arms wrapped themselves around her, then another, then another.

"Welcome to the team, Naminé," Roxas whispered into her ear.

She just hugged them back, unable to express herself in words.

Xxx XXX xxX

"So what's her handle gonna be?" Xion asked.

Roxas racked his brains for a moment.

_Come on, imagination…_

"Angel?" he answered.

"Really?" the brunette girl yawned. "I think that's too much of a compliment."

"Hey, mine was Roxy-Woxy. Yours is Doll."

"Yours and mine were appropriate. She is _not_ an 'angel'."

"For the last time, she isn't a con artist!"

"Then what is she?"

"The daughter of Terra Xemnas!"

"Bullshit." But Xion's tone was shocked disbelief rather than mocking scorn.

"Not kidding," Roxas said in a deadpan tone. "You're the sixth person to know."

"Who was before me?"

"Me, Sora, Kairi, Cloud, and Tifa."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Xion muttered, sitting back. She brushed a raven bang out of her eyes. "I cannot believe my ears."

"I repeat, her last name is Xemnas."

"Bullshit," she said again.

Roxas sighed. "Believe what you will," he replied, waving a hand in the air. "But back to our discussion."

"How about…errrr…Witch?"

"What do you have against her, anyways?"

"We went over this!"

"I don't remember that we did," Roxas said flatly. "What might've passed for that was your fight with Naminé."

"Never mind, then," she spat, turning back to her computer.

"Shirayuki?"

"What does that mean?"

"Snow White. In Japanese."

There was no response.

"Doll, I'm not stupid. I know you hate her for some reason unknown to me, but you have to get over it. She's your coworker now."

"WHAT?" Xion's suddenly spinning around nearly made her fall off her chair.

"Sora offered her a job as a concept artist," Roxas responded.

"So we call her Yuki-onna then, and leave it at that?" Xion suggested.

_She's letting this go way too easily. _

"What's a yuki-onna?"

"A Japanese mythical creature. Yuki-onna is supposedly a beautiful snow witch that lures travelers to their doom."

"You really have it in for Naminé, do you?"

"What was your first clue, Woxy?" she replied sweetly.

"Yuki-onna, it is then, just to spite you."

Xxx XXX xxX

"You'll be working in here, the concept room."

The room was exactly like all the others, ten feet by ten feet, and had a collapsible table in the center. An easel was mounted in the far corner, and yet another computer, plus a strange machine, sat on the same end of the table.

"Pencils and paper are over in that bin," Kairi stated, pointing at a blue box below the table. "And that's it for the introduction. Any questions?"

"Will I have to color in my drawings?" Naminé asked.

"Well, once you finish it in pencil, you'll take it to Sora and he'll tell you if it's good. If so, then you color it in as he instructs."

"What do you want me to draw today?"

"A space battle. I would recommend using the images on that computer as an inspiration."

Kairi leaned over and jabbed at a small button on the bottom right corner of the monitor. An image of dozens of strange-looking ships firing gold and green beams at each other in flared to life. "So, any questions?"

Naminé recognized some of the grey-and-white ships as the sleek saucer-and-nacelle vessels like the one Roxas had been working on. Others, armored in a glossy bronze alloy, were shaped like rays, down to the majestically sweeping wings and long tails. Still others were green and almost organically curved and bent, with menacing auras.

"You want me to draw something like that?" Naminé asked, shocked. From her experience, anything on that scale would take months to complete.

"Not that big," Kairi smiled. "You'll use these vessels."

The auburn-haired woman clicked on a minimized folder. The data depot sprang up, revealing a multitude of sub-folders.

"Use at least three ships from each race," Kairi added. "For example, in Starfleet…"

The folder labeled 'Federation' had at least a dozen sub-sub-folders. Galaxy, Excelsior, Miranda, Prometheus, Intrepid…

"What if I can't find enough ships to fill in the quota?" Naminé inquired.

Kairi shrugged. "Then just say so. Or, you can search for more examples, if you want to."

"How did you know how to title all these ships?"

"I'm a Trekkie," she admitted. When she saw Naminé's quizzical expression, she added, "I'm a Star Trek fan."

"Oh."

"Never mind, you're too young to know what that is," Kairi chuckled. "Good luck!"

Naminé exhaled and sat down in the folding chair, pulling the bin open and extracting a random pencil. Then she pulled a sheet of paper out, pinning it beneath her cast. What should she start on first?

The folder labeled 'Galaxy' revealed a multitude of images—reference orthographics and effect shots. There was a cross-section revealing the innards of the vessel, called an 'Okudagram'.

She began on the saucer section, drawing a simple oval on the vast plain of the unused paper. A long rectangle formed the left nacelle and an oblong created the secondary hull.

The Galaxy-class starship reminded Naminé of a Persian cat perched on a dais; the saucer was the head and the nacelles were like the paws.

Checking the reference images was paramount to the drawing's accuracy, and as such Naminé would find herself looking at the screen from time to time, trying to incorporate the two-dimensional features into her angled view.

A loop of dark gray metal wrapped around the upper part of the saucer section, and there were what seemed like thousands of windows and running lights decorating the rim.

A large eye-like hole made up the prow of the bottom hull; it took her several minutes and the aid of the cross-section to get its depth correct.

Arrayed along the sides of the nacelles were luminescent azure lights. A scarlet light capped the forward end of either nacelle.

She didn't notice the intruder until she was leaning over her.

"AAAAAHHH!"

Xion smiled grimly. "Hi, Yuki-onna," she greeted.

"My name is—"

"That will be your nickname in this building," Xion interrupted. "Having one is a sign that you're one of us."

Naminé glared at Xion. "I know what a yuki-onna is."

"Good for you!"

"I am not a witch."

"Whatever, Yuki-onna," Xion sang as she sauntered out the door.

SLAM.

_Don't cry…I can't cry, it'll make me look weak…_

But the tears emerged regardless of her resolve and Naminé slipped into another memory.

…

_Stella screamed and screamed as Xemnas did something horrible to her. _

"_Say my name!" Father thundered._

_Little Naminé couldn't tear her eyes off that door, no matter what her mind ordered her body to do. She couldn't stop her ears from drinking up the crying and sobbing, couldn't stop her nose from smelling the iron tang of blood, couldn't stop her mind from imagining just what might be happening behind that door._

"_Terra," Mother choked._

"_LOUDER!"_

"_TER—GAAAAHHH!"_

_There was a thump and a crash._

_SLAM._

_Naminé's mother, normally so beautiful, so radiant, stood in the doorframe wild-eyed and disheveled. Blood poured from her numerous cuts and bruises and most eloquently down one of her legs._

"_Naminé, run!" she shrieked. "RUN!"_

_Finally the little girl's muscles listened to the commands of her brain and she darted away just as Stella was dragged back into the master bedroom._

_And the resumed screaming chased Naminé all the way back to her own bedroom._

…

Xxx XXX xxX

No comment on that last one. Mother******, Xemnas is a bastard.


	7. Thinking About You

Did I ever talk about what Naminé was wearing?

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Kingdom Hearts Studio closed at 6:00 sharp. Everybody was packed and out a bare minute later.

"Come on, Naminé," Tifa called, pointing at a black sedan.

The artist adjusted the strap of her bag to make it more comfortable against the binding on her arm before pulling the back door open and sliding into the seat. Cloud took the driver's seat.

"We're going to the grocery store first, then our apartment, okay?" he said.

"Okay," Naminé replied offhandedly. She was too busy admiring the streets and buildings as they rushed past.

All her two decades of life, she had only known the stark walls of her home as an environment. The downtown's towering skyscrapers and apartment buildings, thousands of flashing lights, and most of all the people, fascinated Naminé in their ability to fit in such a small area.

The grocery store turned out to be embedded into yet another skyscraper. It was a relatively large spot—spanning about half of the building's width. Massive floor-to-ceiling glass panels made up the front wall.

"Do you want to stay in here or come with us?" Tifa asked.

"I'll come with you," Naminé answered, leaving her valise behind in the car.

The store itself looked even more packed than the streets outside of it. In the alley next to it, the blonde could see several misshapen forms huddling against the wall.

_Beggars_, she thought pityingly.

Cool air hit her like a slap in the face, but it was welcome change from the polluted smog of the outside. The next thing Naminé noticed was all the noises.

There were mechanical beeps and gentle humming, there were whispers and shouts and the occasional boom of the intercom. Light glinted off a thousand metallic surfaces and cast a mesmerizing patchwork of illumination and shadows that would have driven Escher to insanity.

Cloud tugged a cart from a waiting line and pushed it through the low-hanging entrance, ducking under as he did so. Tifa and Naminé pushed through the rotating door.

"You got the list, Tifa?" the blond man said.

Bouncy produced a slip of paper from her jeans pocket. "We need some lettuce, potatoes, carrots, and chicken," she read.

"Onions? Sauce?"

"We have those."

Naminé stepped daintily along the floor, noting how the grime on the tiles momentarily glued her shoes down. The smells were mixed pleasant and rancid, smoky and fresh.

"Naminé? Naminé, watch out—"

Zoned out as she was, the blonde didn't even notice Tifa's warning until she smacked into the shelf. It was pure luck that none of the cans fell, but passersby gave her amused looks.

"Ow…" the artist mumbled as she rubbed the growing bump on her forehead.

"You've never been to the supermarket, have you?" Cloud chuckled, taking a hold of her forearm and pulling her behind him. "Just stay behind me and Tifa."

"I've never even been outside my own home until now," Naminé replied. "I used my father's computer to print a map to the train station."

After a good ten minutes scouring the shelves for supplies, the trio were finished with their shopping and headed for the clerk stations.

"Hey, you're that woman who got locked out," the clerk said.

Naminé took a closer look at the blond boy. "Hayner?"

Hayner grinned. "The one and only," he declared. "By the way, I never got your name."

"Oh! I'm sorry about that," she apologized. "My name is Naminé."

"That's a pretty name," Hayner replied. "Not as pretty as you, though."

And then a pack of gum smacked into the side of his head.

"Hayner!" Olette shouted. "Watch your mouth!"

"Sorry!" the boy called back, as everyone around him began giggling.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"By the way, Mom, is it okay if Roxas stays at me and Kairi's house?"

Roxas spun around, openmouthed.

"Sure," Rinoa replied.

The blond still had his jaw near the floor as he stared at his older brother. "You—you don't need to—"

Sora waved him away. "It's no biggie, really," he said. "It's also a lot more convenient for both of us—you don't run the risk of being late and you don't have to get up at six in the morning to go to the train station."

"But I don't have a car!" Roxas protested, grasping for an excuse, any excuse.

"You don't need one. You do have your license, right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Then it's settled," Kairi declared. "You're living with us, and don't tell us you wouldn't like that."

"I would like it, but I can't freeload off you guys!" Roxas protested.

Sora chuckled. "Come to think of it, that was Naminé's excuse not to live at Cloud and Tifa's."

"What—what're you implying?" Roxas spluttered. His cheeks flushed deep scarlet.

"He's blushing, which means he knows exactly what we're implying."

"Is this about Naminé?" he groaned.

"B-I-N-G-O!" Kairi sang.

"I do NOT have a crush on her—"

"Says you, and you were never a good liar."

Roxas glared at his brother.

Sora and Kairi's house was a light yellow two-story with a side garage. The front lawn was immaculately mowed (most likely Kairi's work) and the driveway was well-swept.

"Your room is on the second floor, across from ours," Sora explained, pointing at the stairs. "We set up sheets, soap, and toothbrushes, so no worries there."

"Thanks," Roxas grinned. "So what's for dinner?"

"You're helping me with that," Kairi answered, flicking the kitchen light on. "Remember what happened the last time Sora tried to cook something?"

The brown-haired man winced. He still had shards of metal embedded in his skin from that incident.

"The one where he got sent to the ER?" Roxas chuckled, pulling the refrigerator open.

"The very same," the redhead replied. "Get some eggs, please."

While Kairi pulled a cutting board out of a cupboard and began dicing vegetables, Roxas cracked and stirred a few eggs.

_I wonder what Naminé is doing right now?_

**Xxx XXX xxX**

_I wonder what Roxas is doing right now?_

Naminé blushed and refocused on the potatoes she was cutting. She scooped them up with the cleaver and poured them into the bubbling soup, clapping the cover over the pot. That she'd managed all this with a broken arm was amazing, but then again, a lot practice in that regard made perfect.

A glance at the rice cooker showed that the rice was done. It would take at least twenty minutes for the curry to finish, so she walked over to the couch and plopped down.

A small shelf of books was mounted within arm's-length of the sofa. Naminé read the titles—

"_Man in the Iron Mask_, _Casino Royale_, _Matilda_—hey, my favorite!"

She jerked the paperback from its place and flicked on the lamp, holding down finished pages with her injured arm. Every so often she would look up from her book at the timer on the oven.

BE-BE-BE-BE—

A slim finger jabbed the 'Stop/Secure' button and Naminé switched off the stove.

"Dinner's ready!" she called, and she heard a thud from above her.

Tifa rushed down the stairs, hiking up the waistband of her jeans. Naminé could only guess what she and her fiancé had been up to. "You made dinner?" the raven-haired woman gasped.

"Well, it's the least I can do to thank you for letting me stay here," Naminé smiled. "I hope you enjoy it."

Cloud followed. "Well, whatever you cooked, it's going to be a lot better than Tifa's food," he commented.

"Hey, you want to eat something else, make it yourself!" Tifa retorted.

"I would, if you would let me into the kitchen!"

"It's a dangerous place, you know! Almost a third of all home accidents occur there!"

"Did you actually research that, or did you just make that up?"

"Ummmm…"

Naminé set the table with napkins as the other two bickered. "Mr. Strife, Ms. Lockhart, do you want spoons or chopsticks?" she asked.

"Either will be fine," Cloud replied. "And you can just call us by our first names."

"Okay…"

Tifa brought the pot over as Naminé and Cloud pulled plates from the cupboard and loaded them with steaming rice.

"This smells incredible," Tifa grinned, rubbing her hands. "I can hardly wait to eat!"

"Ze wice ish gweat too," Cloud added, chewing on a mouthful of rice. "Gah, hot!"

There were only two chairs by the table, so he brought a stool in from the bathroom. "Sorry about not having any more chairs," he muttered.  
"Oh, that's okay, really—" Naminé was cut off by a loud cry.

"ThishISH incwedible!" Tifa declared, shoveling even more food into her mouth. "Sorry. Where'd you learn to cook like this?"

"I learned myself," Naminé answered, blowing a bit on her spoon. "And really, it's not as good as how my mother would have made it."

"Then I'd love to try your mom's cooking, because frankly, this curry is way better than anything either of us could do," Cloud remarked.

"Thank you," the petite blonde smiled gratefully.

"Wait, wouldn't you have servants to do the cooking for you?" Tifa asked.

Cloud shot a warning look at his fiancé, but Naminé shook her head.

"Only on important occasions," she replied. "We prepared our own food on normal days."

"No wonder you cook so well, then," Tifa said, swallowing a potato. "You must've had years of practice."

"Unlike Tifa," Cloud smiled, earning a glare from the woman.

"By the way, Naminé, what's your handle?" Tifa asked.

"Handle?"

"Your nickname, your callsign."

"Oh. Xion—Xion said it was 'Yuki-onna'," Naminé said calmly, but inside she was shaking with confusion and resentment.

Tifa's eyes turned sympathetic. "I know what that means," she sighed. "Don't—don't think too much about it."

"Why does she dislike me so much?" Naminé mumbled. "I've done nothing to her—or at least I don't think I have…have I?"

"No," Cloud responded. He set his spoon down and leaned back. "We don't know why she doesn't like you, but everybody knows you've been an absolute angel since you got here."

"Maybe that's why," she said a little more loudly. "I think she sees me as some sort of trickster out to swindle you."

Cloud laughed in derision. "And what about those two guys who came looking for you earlier?"

"I might've paid them to," Naminé argued.

"Why are you trying to convince us you're what Xion says you are—some con artist?" Tifa shouted, exasperated. "I don't think you are, nobody does, and even if you were, Sora and Kairi would see through you in a second!"

The artist racked her brains for anything to counter Tifa and came up with nothing that wouldn't insult the studio boss. "I guess you're right, then," she murmured sadly.

"Look, Naminé, you're a good person at heart," Tifa stated, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "We trust you because you trust us."

"Don't think any less of yourself just because somebody else puts you down," Cloud added.

"I know you're right," Naminé replied. "But it's kind of hard to make me truly believe it when I've been called nothing but a burden for every second I live in my father's house."

"Then put your dad out of your mind, Yuki-onna," Tifa advised.

Naminé flinched at the nickname but she kept her temper. "How can I? He's been a fundamental part of my existence all my life—actually, according to the laws of genetics, he's half-responsible for my being born at all."

"Don't think about him at all, then," Cloud suggested. "Put other things into your mind—your job, your schedule the next day, the economy, whatever."

"What if—but what if I can't do it?" Naminé's voice was shaky; understandable, considering that even now her father seemed like a menacing presence right behind her.

"Of course you can," Tifa declared. The brunette grinned encouragingly. "You just have to believe you can free yourself of his influence."

"Intelligent words like that? Tifa?" Cloud asked, obviously stunned. "Does _not_ compute."

"Shut up!"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Filler, I know, but I also wanted it to be fluff and heartwarming for Naminé and Roxas.

Also, comic relief frequently comes before dark stuff.

Please review! You know you want to!


	8. Intimidation

If I succeed in making you want to strangle Xigbar, Saix, and/or Marluxia after this, then I'll have succeeded in my goal.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Sora whistled a lively tune as he strolled down the hallway of the second floor.

"How're the disruptors going, Pyro?" he called into the Effects room.

"What?" Axel replied, and then he remembered. "Oh, yeah it's coming along nicely."

"Does 'coming along nicely' include nearly crashing the Max program?" Zexion inquired. "Well, of course, 2010 is too good to crash unless you were running _ten_ Internet browsers at the _same time_!"

"Shut it, Emo-Boy."

"For the last time, I am NOT—"

"Great," Sora said cheerfully, as if the two weren't arguing.

His next stop was the M&M room. Xion was working on a D'deridex-class warbird.

"How do you pronounce this thing's name?" she grumbled.

"Di—dare—i—decks," Roxas answered for his brother. "And don't ask me how I know."

"How do you know?"

"Sora drilled it into my head over and over."

"Wow…for how long?"

"Five months."

"Five months?" Sora shouted, offended. "It wasn't five months!"

"Six months, then," Roxas said, as the gigantic Romulan capital ship on his monitor screen suddenly came alive with running lights. "Oh, finally this thing cooperates!"

"How long have you been trying to get those omni lights to work, anyways?" Xion inquired, sidling over to the blond. Her hand lazily came up to rest on his shoulder.

Roxas leaned forward; he was obviously uncomfortable with her touch. "Pretty long," he mumbled.

"Oh?" Xion murmured, batting her eyelashes. "I like a man who's dedicated."

"Xion, do I have to remind you I'm still here?" Sora chuckled.

The brunette girl immediately recoiled from Roxas; the poor guy exhaled in relief.

"I wasn't flirting again, I swear!" she protested.

"Sure…" Sora drawled, rolling his eyes.

The studio boss checked the concept room the last.

Naminé's hand was a blur of motion over the paper, leaving curves and lines in the pencil's wake. Sora took a moment to observe the stunning blonde at her work before speaking.

"How goes the drawing, Yuki-onna?" he said.

She jumped a bit at his unexpected arrival. "Fine, sir," she replied shakily. "A-and you—you kind of startled me…"

"Well, sorry," Sora murmured, a bit guilty.

"Oh, no—no, really, it-it's okay—"

Sora sighed. Two weeks of her job had apparently been insufficient to cure Naminé's doubts and insecurities.

"Look, Naminé," he began. "You don't have to be so…so…"

She didn't offer an adjective; she was too scared he might fire her for insolence.

"Never mind. Anyways, when I say I'm sorry I mean it, okay?" Sora explained. "Being nervous in the presence of the boss doesn't make a good impression either."

"But I thought that employees have to show their superiors respect—"

"They do, and everybody here does, but you don't have to overdo it, you know?"

She nodded and cupped her cheek in her hand, twirling the pencil in the other.

"Thinking about someone?" Sora smirked.

"WHAT?" Naminé exploded. Her cheeks darkened into full-on cherry red. "NO!"

He folded his arms. "I'm guessing Tifa and Cloud told you I can see straight through you?"

"They did…" she mumbled, hanging her head.

"Then you can't hide it from me," he sang. He walked over and kneeled next to her. "Now who's the lucky guy?"

"Not telling," she declared, turning away.

Sora sidled around the chair to look the concept artist in the eye. "Is it Roxas?" he inquired.

Her second blush was all he needed.

"Right," he said dryly, patting her shoulder. "I knew it."

"I never confirmed it, sir," Naminé growled.

"Says you."

"What will it take to make you stop teasing me about this?"

"I wonder how you would react if I told Roxas how you felt?" he said rather loudly.

"WHAT?" It appeared that both Xion and Roxas had heard.

"I deny everything!" Naminé huffed, folding her arms.

_Am I that easy to read? _

"…Uh huh…"

_I guess so._

"Well, I'll be leaving you alone now," Sora yawned, walking out the door. "And my offer still stands, Naminé!"

"Your 'offer' sounded more like a threat," she muttered, before turning back to her drawing.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Kairi listened to Naminé and Sora bicker, and chuckled. The ongoing subject of Naminé's crush on Roxas, however the mapping artist might be clueless of it, never failed to amuse.

The auburn haired woman hefted the trash bags held in her hands and stepped down the staircase, careful lest the new life growing within her was injured by a fall.

She was planning to tell Sora she was pregnant tonight. They had been trying for close to two years now, and last night, according to the tests she bought, they had succeeded.

"I wonder how he'll take being a new dad," she mused, patting her still-flat stomach. "What do you think, Ventus?"

She nudged the door open with her knee and slipped out before it closed.

The alleyway next to the studio was usually well-lit, but today it was dark for some reason. A look at the lamps mounted on the adjacent buildings showed that the bulbs had been stolen.

"What's wrong with this world," Kairi murmured. "That people have to resort to stealing public property to survive?"

Only the slight rush of a passing breeze answered.

The housewife tossed the two bags into the dumpster at the mouth of the alley and turned to leave before a catcall made her freeze.

"Who's there?" she called, nervously scanning for any threats. This neighborhood was pretty safe, but crime could occur anywhere.

A familiar eyepatch wearing man emerged from the shadows at the end of the alley, chuckling.

"You!" she gasped, backing away. She glanced at the door, only to see that Pink Hair was blocking that escape route.

"Miss us?" Eyepatch Guy grinned.

"What do you want?" Kairi snarled. "That Naminé girl isn't here!"

Another man, this one blue-haired, stepped next to Eyepatch Guy. "Then who was that girl yelling just now?" the new person inquired. Two scars crisscrossed his nose.

"It was probably one of our artists," Kairi lied.

"Bullshit," Pink Hair stated.

"You can come in again and—"

"And check?" Scar Face snorted. "You already pulled that."

"Nice job hiding her, by the way," Eyepatch Guy added. He rolled up his sleeves. "Now, where is she?"

"I don't know!" Kairi yelled, hoping someone would hear her.

"Well, I don't think so," Scar Face said. He nodded at Pink Hair and the other man stepped in behind her.

Ice ran through Kairi's veins as fear gripped her mind. What were they going to do?

"You can tell us," Pink Hair sneered. "Or we can make you tell us."

"You're a very pretty woman, you know," Eyepatch Guy snickered, suddenly a bare three feet away from Kairi.

"She isn't here!" she said firmly, fighting to keep a poker face. "I'm telling the truth!"

Scar Nose rolled his eyes. "Well, you'll excuse us if we don't believe you," he replied, stepping forward.

Kairi took a step back and bumped into Pink Hair. She gasped in fear and attempted to jerk away, but suddenly a brass-encased hand had a firm grip on her shoulder.

"W-what are you going t-to d-do?" she stuttered, too scared to comprehend what she'd just said.

A frightening smile was plastered all over Eyepatch Guy's face. "Well, now that I think about it…"

"Nothing," Scar Nose said coolly. "That is, if you tell us."

"I won't," Kairi responded, summoning what courage she had left.

Pink Hair's breathing tickled her ear. "Oh?"

"Because she isn't here!" she added hastily.

The three men seemed to tower over her. Derisive chuckles rang in the alleyway and Kairi fearfully stared at her captors, wondering why they were laughing.

"Right."

Eyepatch Guy's dry utterance set off hundreds of alarm bells in Kairi's head that screamed _RUN! RUN! RUN!_

She bolted out of Pink Hair's grasp and attempted to slide around the man, but a hand was suddenly amidst her hair. Kairi yelped in pain as she was pulled back into the alley; what might have become a scream was instantly silenced by a gloved hand clamped over her mouth.

"A peep out of you," Scar Nose whispered. "And we'll just have to wait for someone else to come out, got it?"

Kairi's sobbing was audible through Pink Hair's hand.

"Shut up," Scar Nose growled, and then he raised a fist.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Naminé plopped down on the couch as she observed Demyx and Cloud mow through a cluster of…

What were they called again? Oh yes, Drones.

"Chainsaw for the win, baby!"

She had no idea why men were so addicted to the sight of digital blood and gore.

"Water Boy, watch out!" Cloud yelped as Demyx was suddenly set upon by a swarm of doglike creatures.

"I see 'em, I see 'em," Demyx growled as he frantically sprayed Lancer fire at the pack of Wretches while backing away as fast as the game would allow.

And then a missile slammed into the concrete roadblock Cloud was hiding behind.

"Boomer!" Demyx shouted as he fought to stem the tide of enemies. "Cloud, to your left!"

"I see it," the blond man growled, switching from his assault rifle to a razor-edged bow.

A second missile exploded ten feet from Demyx's character, instantly sending Water Boy scurrying for cover. "Hurry up, Cloud!"

"Say ah, monster," Cloud murmured, aiming at the morbidly obese Boomer. He pulled the trigger. "Take that, mofo!"

For a second Naminé thought that nothing had happened.

Then the glowing arrow jutting out of the Boomer's neck detonated, messily decapitating the giant alien. Blood and gore showered up, coating the surrounding area with fluid and chunks of flesh.

One look at the scene instantly triggered Naminé's gag reflex and she was forced to exit the rec room in a hurry.

"Why do I even bother watching them?" she muttered as she rushed down the staircase.

The concept artist shoved the main door open and took three more steps before her stomach's pangs overpowered her self control and she collapsed to the concrete.

She heaved and heaved and heaved, yellow gorge flooding out of her throat; her bile coated the sidewalk like the Boomer's blood had. The reminder of why she was even out here in the first place brought on another round of dry heaves.

"Fuck," she mumbled, and then she gasped in horror and clapped a hand over her mouth.

Larxene was really a bad influence.

Naminé slowly got to her feet, shuddering at the horrid taste of stomach fluid on her tongue. "I look like a drunk," she half groaned, half laughed.

There were some flecks of bile still left on her cheek and she wiped them off with the back of her hand, careful to avoid dirtying the shirt Tifa had generously loaned her.

She might have walked back into the studio then, if she didn't notice a slight trickle of crimson near the corner of the building.

_Blood!_

The blonde girl gulped, crushing the urge to resume dry heaving, and walked over to the alleyway. Whoever had caused the bleeding might still be there, but she couldn't just abandon someone who might be hurt.

_I really, really hope I don't regret this…_

The sanguine mess she saw in the alleyway was almost unrecognizable as Kairi.

"!"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Objective: Make Xigbar, Marluxia, and Saix seem like total assholes.

Status: What say you?


	9. All My Fault

Warning: Lots of drama and angst in this one. You have been warned.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"Mr. Leonhart? Could I have a word with you?"

"Yes…?"

"Your wife…Katie—no, Kairi, I'm sorry…"

"No…no please, not—"

"She's not dead. But…she's in a coma."

Something clattered to the hospital tile. Sora's phone.

"What?"

"We estimate that it might take her days to emerge from it. In addition, several of her internal organs were contused, but we've managed to stop the internal bleeding. Her left arm and left leg were broken, and her right shoulder was dislocated. Five of her ribs are cracked, and there was major trauma to her abdominal area."

"What—what else?"

"There was no brain damage—she suffered no head trauma whatsoever."

"Thank goodness for small blessings." Sora's voice was heavy on the sarcasm.

The doctor appeared to not notice or not care. He just returned to the room Kairi was in.

Naminé wasn't crying; she was too shaken to. Roxas's arm protectively encircled her as they sat on the hospital bench, and he was whispering reassurances into her ear.

Sora wasn't crying either, but he wasn't scared.

"I'm gonna fucking kill them," he whispered, clenching his fist.

He was furious, irate, livid—

"Don't worry Naminé," Roxas said softly.

"DON'T WORRY?" Sora screamed. A passing nurse jumped. "MY WIFE IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO NOT WORRY?"

"I wasn't talking to you, Sora," Roxas replied. He stood up and placed a steadying hand on his brother's shoulder. "And you need to calm _down_."

"Fuck calming down!" Sora snarled, shoving Roxas away. "How would you feel if that happened to Naminé?"

Roxas's eyes glittered with icy fury. "I'm going to ignore what you just said," he growled through clenched teeth. "But only because you're my brother."

"Damn straight," Sora hissed, his eyes narrowing. "It's all her fault."

Something impaled Naminé through the heart when she heard that. A single tear slid down her cheek.

_He's right. It _is_ my fault._

"If you hadn't brought her back—"

"Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?"

_Now they're fighting. Because of me._

"Abandon her, that's what! But noooooo, you fall for a pretty face, and now look what happens!"

"She asked me for help!"

"What made you think she was being sincere?"

_Kairi is hovering between life and death. Because of me._

"You said you trusted her! To her face! How dare you go back on your word?"

"So for once I was wrong."

"Exactly. You're wrong about everything about Naminé! This wasn't her fault!"

_Sora is a broken man. I can see it. Because of me._

"You know what, Roxas?" Sora bellowed.

"What?" the blond shouted back.

"You're a total dumbass, you know that?"

"Whatever! Fuck you! I can't believe my brother could such an asshole!" With that Roxas stormed off.

"Roxas, wait!" Naminé cried. She ran after him and grabbed his arm.

He looked at her with a murderous expression. "What?" he snarled.

She shrank back, frightened, but she did not let go. "Don't go," she said softly. "Apologize to your brother. He was right—I'm nothing but trouble for you."

His face contorted into panic as he realized the implications of her words. "Naminé—no!"

Naminé smiled gently. "You'll be better off this way," she replied, turning to head to the elevator.

"No—no don't go—!" Roxas sobbed, leaping forward and embracing her.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she raised a hand to touch the arms encircling her. "But—I—"

His tears leaked down onto her flaxen tresses. She could feel a single drop making its way down to her neck.

"Don't go. Please. You're right, I was stupid saying that to my brother, a-and I should p-probably apologize to him. But…just don't go. I don't know what I'd do if you left." The confession only seemed to make him worse, because he started shaking against her.

"Roxas. Roxas, calm down, it's okay, I won't go…"

_Funny how he was the one comforting me only a minute ago._

The artist gently pried his fingers off of her and hooked her arm into his. "Now come on," she said, tugging him into motion.

But they weren't heading back to Kairi's room. "Where are we going?" Roxas asked, looking around.

"Back to the studio," Naminé replied. "Sora needs some time alone to deal with his emotions."

_He was right, it's all my fault._

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"Why is it that every time I get hurt you overreact?"

Sora's head jerked up at her soft voice. "Kairi," he sobbed, running a finger along the soft skin of her arm. "Kairi…"

She looked down at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Kairi?" he said. "What's—what's wrong?"

"Sora," she said gently. "Wake up."

The studio boss bolted up, slamming his head painfully against the plaster of the wall with a loud crack. "Shit—!"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his forehead, and looked at his wife. Kairi looked so peaceful tucked into the snow-white hospital sheets, but unfortunately the breathing mask dispelled the illusion of tranquility.

"You're a real handful, you know that Kairi?" Sora chuckled humorlessly. "First you screw with my head in college playing hard to get…"

…

"_So what about Friday?" Sora asked._

"_I said no, Leonhart, and I mean it!"she snapped, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag._

"_Come on," he wheedled. "Just this once?"_

"_No."_

"_Please?"_

"_No."_

"_You know you can't resist me…"_

"_Fuck you, Leonhart." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and strode away._

_Tidus snickered. "Epic fail, man," he smirked. "'You know you can't resist me'? What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?"_

"_Shut up," Sora growled, smacking his blond friend upside the head._

…

"And then there was that time we got wasted at a party…"

…

"_Hey Sora, your eyes are blue!" Kairi giggled, swaying under the combined influence of loud music and some truly extraordinary alcohol._

"_Well, your eyes are purple!" Sora grinned back, hiccupping. He had somehow managed to keep a hold of the brandy bottle despite being wasted to hell._

"_That's so cool!" she squealed. "And do you know what else is cool?"_

_In his drunkenness Sora had misheard 'cool' as 'cute'._

"_You," he smiled. "You're—you're cute, you know…"_

_The redheaded bombshell grinned and leaned forward to smack him on the lips. "You're cute too, you know that?" she replied._

_Sora blushed and leaned forward to give her a smooch of his own. "Not as cute as you!"_

_Kairi laughed and suddenly pounced on him. "You're a big hunk, you know that?" she asked mischievously. _

_He would've ridiculed her for this had he been sober. That is, if Kairi would've even been willing enough to reveal her three plus year crush on him. Or even called him 'a big hunk', much less to his face._

…

"We both had massive hangovers in the morning," the now adult Sora groaned, burying his face in his hands. He grinned weakly at his unconscious wife. "But hey, at least we finally admitted we loved each other."

The studio boss sighed with the contentment brought from fond memories, but then the events, the troubles, the conflicts—they all came crashing down on his shoulders.

"What do I do, Kairi?" Sora muttered. He leaned slowly against the wall, uncaring of the throbbing pain in the back of his head. "Damnit, you always were the smarter one…"

A small twitch, nearly unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't looking (read: Sora), was Kairi's only response.

"I was so fucking pissed when I saw what those bastards did to you," he continued, running his hands through the brown spikes of his hair. "I started blaming everyone around, people I knew who would never do that sort of thing…"

There was another twitch.

"I yelled at Roxas, told him he was an idiot…" Sora slapped his forehead. "And then I was yelling at Naminé, too, and if it weren't for her nobody would've found you, and you would've d-d-d—"

His voice cracked at the thought of that possibility, but he soldiered on. The boss sighed again.

"I've been an idiot," he mumbled, idly tracing the curve of an IV line. "Picking a fight with my brother for no damned reason, blaming someone for something they didn't even do—"

What appeared to be the beginnings of a smile curved Kairi's lips. It might've been an unconscious action. Might have. Again, Sora was oblivious.

"I've been an idiot," he said again. Then he straightened. "I've got to apologize to them."

He gently caressed Kairi's forehead and pressed his lips to hers. "See you later, Kairi," he murmured with a slight smile. "I'll be back soon, yeah?"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Naminé swallowed. Hard.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, staring at the controller clutched in her fist.

"Of course," Zexion smiled. "If you can stand being around Doll, then of course you could stand blood and gore."

"Hey!" Xion shouted from the couch.

"What about…" Her voice faltered. "Last time?"

Roxas hugged her from behind, noting how soft and sensuous her curves were through the T-shirt Tifa had loaned the blonde. He didn't, however, notice her blush at his touch.

"Last time, you saved Kairi's life," he muttered into her hair. "You need to loosen up a bit from that scare—video games are a great way to vent."

"Uh, Roxas, why are you hugging me?" Naminé inquired, reaching up to touch his forearm.

She was instantly released. "S-sorry," Roxas mumbled, blushing furiously.

"Epic fail, Woxy," Axel snickered.

"Shut up, Pyro," Roxas shot back.

"By the way, when's Sora getting back?" Xion asked.

Silence.

"What?"

"How should I know?" Roxas said bitterly. "I mean, he did tell me I was a dumbass…"

Xion winced. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"What's there to be sorry about?" Axel snorted. "It was just an insult! Get over it!"

"If only you knew what he'd said before that about Naminé," the blond retorted.

"Oh…" Axel embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. "Guess I don't understand then. What did he say?"

Roxas glared at him anyways. "Yeah, whatever. He said that—"

"He said that it was all my fault," Naminé cut in. "That Kairi was beaten, I mean. And he's right."

The artist stared right back into Roxas's pleading eyes. Axel didn't look too happy, either.

"He…he didn't mean it like that," Roxas choked, attempting to mend the situation. "He…he couldn't have…"

"I think he was right, too," Xion smirked.

"Xion, SHUT UP!" Roxas roared, whipping around. "You don't know shit about my brother OR Naminé!"

The brunette flinched at his outburst, but Naminé placed a staying finger on her shoulder.

"Roxas, apologize to Xion," the blonde said. "Now."

"Fine…" Roxas muttered. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Xion."

Instead of acknowledging the boy, or even looking at him, Xion jerked her shoulder away from Naminé.

"Don't touch me, witch," the brunette snapped, and without further ado she ran out, slamming a passing Demyx against the wall.

Water Boy just stared at the spot Xion had been seconds before. "What's with her?"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

What's with her, indeed. Then again, Demyx isn't one of the obsessed fans we are, so he wouldn't know.

So how'd you like it?

REVIEW! All reviewers get Roxas plushies!

Namine: MY PLUSHIES!

Xion: NO, MINE!

Namine: MINE!

SB Original: Catfight! Get the popcorn!

Sb Backup: *smacks counterpart on head* Shut up.


	10. Someday, Somehow

I'm neutral about this chapter. You'll see why.

Also, Xion is a bitch no longer. Yippee!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Roxas loved Naminé. Naminé loved Roxas.

Xion could see it even if those two idiots couldn't. She should've been happy for them; Roxas had become pretty much her best friend, next to Axel.

That every chance she got, she was flirting with the unintentionally charming blond, was conveniently forgotten.

"Why?" she mumbled. "After _him_, why do I still feel this way?"

_He_ had used her, abused her, abandoned her—Sora's discovery of her had been a pure fluke.

The brunette forced back tears and leaned back against the cold concrete of Kingdom Hearts Studio's front wall. The material was so smooth, so comfortingly cool, so…simple…

Unfortunately that simplicity did not extend to her feelings towards Roxas.

Why had she fallen for him?

The blond wasn't all that handsome—well, okay, he was, but he wasn't _hot_, like some of the guys she'd met before. Like _him_.

His eyes floated to her mind's eye first—those smiling lapis orbs, that could make her guilty, make her angry, make her feel stupid, so damn easily.

Then there was his smile. It wasn't that infuriating smirk he used to mock her after being proven right, nor was it the happy laugh that always came up when he utterly crushed Axel at Gears of War 2. No, it was that triumphant and goofy and yet mature grin that he assumed whenever he managed to overcome something difficult.

It was the Triumphant Grin that first caught her attention. Xion had believed Roxas to be a younger version of that goof-off jokester Sora, but the younger Leonhart brother was much so much more…

Mature? Certainly, but that wasn't what she was looking for.

Sexy? Not quite...

Ideal?

That was it. Xion knew that Roxas was a pure match for her, and yet she knew she wasn't his type of girl.

Naminé was more like that.

To be honest, Xion had nothing against the artist. Naminé was inflexibly polite and kind to the brunette, even though Xion had treated her like complete crap.

Yep, she was jealous. How pathetic...

"I fucking hate my life," she sighed, resting her head on her hands.

"Many of us do," a soft voice said from behind her.

She whipped around, adrenaline ripping through her veins in preparation for combat—

To see Naminé leaning against the doorframe.

"What're you doing here?" Xion spat. But a pang of guilt shot through her as pain crossed the blonde's face.

"I just wanted to apologize for Roxas," Naminé murmured, looking at her feet.

"Oh, really?" Xion said airily, as if nothing was wrong. "'For Roxas'? Are you two in a relationship?"

The blonde ignored the barbed tone of the comment. "No," she smiled, brushing a loose strand of hair the color of white gold behind her ear. "To be honest, I don't think he feels the same way…"

The way she did it, her delicate hand gracefully sweeping up and around her jaw…Xion knew she would never match Naminé's natural elegance at any activity, even at such a mundane action.

And that was only one reason why that moron Roxas was head-over-heels over the blonde.

"How could he not like you?" Xion asked. "You're perfect."

Naminé shook her head. Elegantly.

"Far from it," the girl replied in with a sad smile. "Now, my mother on the other hand…"

Xion chuckled a bit. "Now I've heard of mother complexes, but you must've had—as men like to say—one hot mama," she joked.

When Naminé began blushing at the lewd remark, the brunette only laughed harder. It felt good to get the pent-up frustration, resentment, and green-cheeked envy out of her system; Xion always enjoyed a lighthearted round of teasing.

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Naminé," Xion mumbled.

"For what, if I may ask?" the blonde inquired.

"I've been treating you like some piece of filth scraped off my shoe the whole time you've been here," Xion explained, careful not to swear. "And you don't deserve treatment like that."

"Why would you think that?" Naminé said. Her expression was friendly but betrayed no hint of her thoughts.

"Well…"

It was one of those moments where one could envision what one wished to say, but wasn't able to satisfactorily translate it into sound. Xion tried her best anyways.

"You're beautiful, and elegant, and nice to everyone, and you've got this sort of glow around you, like you're…" Xion racked her vocabulary for the appropriate term. "Like you're a ray of sunshine in everyone's lives, making them feel better every time you're around them."

The brunette smirked. "It's no wonder he fell for you. You ARE perfect."

A silence met the statement.

"I don't know about that," Naminé sighed. "I'm worthless until I'm married…"

Xion's jaw fell open. "You—you're not worthless!" the girl spluttered. "Your work's improved all of our models and animations and—WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MARRIAGE?"

"Isn't that what a woman is for?" Naminé said, raising a pale gold eyebrow. "To marry and bear children?"

"NO!" Xion shouted. What the hell was this blonde bimbo thinking? "Your life is yours! Nobody can take it from you like that! Who even taught you such—such a _ridiculous_ idea?"

Naminé scowled. "My _mother_," she growled.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm disrespecting your mom, but she is just plain wrong," Xion insisted. "A person can make whatever she wants out of her life, with her own hands and her own free will!"

_Mother…but…she always told me—_

…

_Seven-year-old Naminé tugged on her mother's sleeve. Stella looked down quizzically. _

"_Yes, dear?" the woman smiled._

"_Mother, when I grow up I want to be an artist!" the girl declared._

_Stella's expression instantly morphed from cheer and sunshine into anger and fear. Her hand flew up and down, smacking her daughter into the carpet._

"_Never say that again!" she screamed, pointing a finger at the little girl's now tearstained face._

"_But—but why?" Naminé sobbed, holding her throbbing cheek._

_The mother cast a nervous look around before kneeling down to answer. "Naminé, when you grow up you will be a good wife to your husband," Stella growled. "Do you hear me?"_

"_Yes, mother," Naminé sniffled, wiping the last of her tears away. Both her parents had said that it wasn't healthy for a little girl to cry; she would lose all the water in her body and turn into dust…_

…

Xion was shaking Naminé now, the brunette's hands clutching the blonde's shoulders.

"Don't you have any self-esteem?" Xion cried. "Why do you think like this? You could be worth more than all of us put together—Cloud, Tifa, me, Sora, Kairi, Axel, Larxene, Zexion, Demyx—even Roxas!"

All Naminé could do was stare at the horrified CGI artist. "But…but—"

"No buts!" Xion said firmly. She had stopped shaking the concept artist and looked her in the eye.

Determined sapphire irises met confused ice-blue orbs.

"Never lose faith in yourself and never let _anything_ make you second-guess yourself!" Xion yelled. "Never let your doubts about yourself distract you, never let the 'what-ifs' and 'maybes' occupy your thoughts—you must _never_, ever, _ever_ let that bitch _Fear_ win, _is that fucking clear_?"

Naminé nodded, a bit frightened by the other girl's impassioned rant.

"Good," Xion growled. "Because the moment you do, you'll have lost any chance you had to make something out of yourself."

The raven-haired girl stepped back and suddenly her eyes lit up. "I have an idea of how you could charm Roxas, too…" she mused, and she chuckled when Naminé flushed deep crimson at the mention of the blond boy.

But the blonde was a hell of a lot tougher than she looked. "What—what do you have planned?" Naminé asked.

Xion grinned devilishly. "Something none of the boys will be expecting out of innocent little Naminé…"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Sora parked the SUV in the garage at the back of the studio and hopped out, stuffing the keys into his jacket pocket. His quick, efficient movements showed a man with a purpose.

"_I've got to apologize to them."_

"I just hope they'll accept an apology," he muttered, and then he shook the doubt out of his head with the practiced ease from dozens of corporate meetings.

As he passed the conference room, however, he could hear giggling and quiet chatter coming from within it.

"Who's in there?" Sora called. "Xion? Naminé?"

"Don't come in, boss," Xion shouted back. "The preparations aren't complete yet!"

"Preparations?" he muttered to himself. "Yeah, okay, whatever."

The studio boss ascended the stairs to the second floor. Nobody was there.

"I'm gone five hours and just like that they abandon their work?" Sora groaned, heading for the second stairwell. But a half smile was on his face; he could remember when he used to be this irresponsible and lazy.

When he reached the rec room he swallowed nervously, dispelled his self-doubt again, and…

Strode into the room like he owned the place. Hell, he did, after all.

Everybody turned to look at him. Tifa, Cloud, Larxene, Zexion, Demyx, Axel…

"Roxas?" Sora said.

The blond looked up from his soda to glare at his brother. "What, Sora?" Roxas sneered. "Gonna chew me out again? Go ahead, fire me! I don't give a damn!"

"Actually, I was planning on staying the whole night in the hospital with Kairi," Sora replied. He scratched his chocolate-colored spikes in embarrassment. "I…I came back to apologize to you and Naminé."

That caught Roxas off guard. "What?"

"I'm serious," Sora insisted. "You're right—I was wrong about Naminé, and I let my anger get the best of me. So…I'm—I'm sorry for everything I said."

The younger Leonhart brother considered it for a moment, and then sighed and held out a hand in as a truce offering.

"But I won't let you off as easily as next time," Roxas warned, even as he and Sora shook hands.

"There won't be a next—"

Sora was cut off by a loud cry from Axel.

"Holy shit!"

"So different, and yet exactly the same."

There were many different reactions when the girl—no, the _woman_ entered the room.

Tifa clapped her hands over her fiancé's eyes.

Cloud cried out in pain as her fingertips jabbed into his corneas.

Axel's eyes were practically separate from their sockets in his awe.

Larxene slapped her boyfriend.

Zexion glanced up from his book and nodded in approval.

Demyx was drooling.

Even Sora, a _married man_, had to whistle appreciatively. "Preparations, huh?" he chuckled.

Roxas's expression was priceless—eyes as wide as Axel's, a jaw hanging lower than his ankles, and a trickle of drool going down his chin like the Nile River. A burning blush coated his face like red paint.

His cool around hot girls had just gone down the drain.

"Is that…is that _Naminé_?"

And yet, as Zexion had noted, she was completely different. It wasn't enough to merit the derogatory word describing a promiscuous female, but…

There was something about that saunter of hers…the guys recalled that 'Yuki-onna' had never once swayed her hips, never once showed off her long, shapely legs whenever she walked.

There was the suggestive tilt of her head, the slight angle of the chin.

There was the coy purse of the lips on her alluring face.

There was her somehow growing a cup size overnight (or was it just because the collar of her T-shirt had been tugged down to reveal a tantalizing hint of cleavage?).

There was the matter of her hips—wasn't her figure rather narrow there? Well, not that they minded; the view precipitated by slightly lowered and tightened jeans was _spectacular_.

And there were her eyes, which completed the enthralling mirage before them. The flashing ice blue irises were no longer innocent, no longer those of a naïve little girl—they now spoke volumes about this bombshell's true maturity.

And boy oh boy, if she hadn't been a stunner before, she sure as hell was now.

"Na-Na-Na-Nami—" Roxas couldn't even pronounce her name correctly, the poor guy.

"Hello, Roxas," she whispered, a mischievous smile tugging at her pale pink lips. "How're you doing?"

Xion took one look inside the rec room and had to clap her hands over her mouth to avoid bursting into uncontrollable laughter right then and there.

And then she smiled sadly. She knew it would be painful to give Roxas up like this, but she'd pull through.

Someday, somehow.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

I understand that the depiction of Naminé may be offensive and sexist to some readers; for that, I apologize, but this was essentially the only scene that would make sense to my sleep-deprived mind as to how Naminé would get with Roxas. And you have to admit—a girl can get any guy to do what she wants, without fail, so long as she's determined enough.

Anyways, review please!

The credits I haven't gotten around to make:

**pichucherrimteam**: You've been supportive and encouraging. You've caught the mistakes my lazy eyes didn't. You've singlehandedly prevented me from terminating L&F. Your reviews make me smile or laugh without fail. You are awesome, and you better get that memorized. Thanks for your faith, _jie jie_! [that means "elder sister" in Chinese]

**Don't Call Me Short**: You're neck and neck with the powerhouse above—not quite as awesome, but only by a hair's-breadth.

**Namixas-Forever**: I hope you enjoyed the newest chapters!

**meander711**: You really think so?

**iinexpressible**: First reviewer for L&F, ever! Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!


	11. Apartment for Sale

I apologize for the long delay (I haven't updated in a WEEK *shot*), but I haven't gotten any chance at all to type Chapter 11 because of my usual L&F time, Sunday train trips to my 3D art class, were unavailable thanks to A) the Fourth of July celebrations in LA and B) repairs on the tracks.

So yeah…

Namixas fluff in this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"Sora! Could you come over here for a second?"

The studio boss walked into his living room to find Roxas reading a newspaper article.

"What do you need, Roxas?" Sora asked cautiously. The two brothers had only just gotten back on casual terms a week after Sora had apologized to his younger sibling.

"I found an apartment for sale at Sunset Plaza," Roxas answered, holding up the newspaper to show an advertisement. "I want to move there."

"Why?" Sora said, surprised. "Don't you—"

"I do like your house," the blond sighed, resting his hands on his knees. "It's just that I don't want to be a burden on you anymore."

"Is that because of Naminé?"

Roxas's head snapped up and a biting rejoinder flew to his tongue, but it was instantly halted when he saw that Sora's expression was utterly serious.

"Don't bother denying it," the older Leonhart stated. "You might not know it yourself, but you like that woman, don't you?"

_Woman._

That was right—after the things she had seen, the things she had done (he was never going to forget the rec room incident), Naminé couldn't be considered just a little girl anymore.

But that didn't mean he had to admit it.

"Maybe I do," Roxas said in an even tone.

Sora rolled his eyes. "I can tell you're lying."

"Oh?" The single syllable was said in a challenging tone.

"For starters, the rec room incident."

"All the guys were staring at Naminé," Roxas pointed out. "Even you."

"You had the worst reaction," Sora countered. He chuckled a bit at the memory. "I wish I'd had had a camera then; your expression was _priceless_…"

The younger brother's eye began twitching.

"Right, moving on," Sora said as if Roxas hadn't just given him a death glare. "Also, at the hospital you were comforting her."

Roxas winced at the memory of the shouting match the reference brought up, but he shook off the sudden burst of resentment. "That was what any good friend might do," he retorted. "You don't have to be a boyfriend to calm somebody down."

The other man didn't seem to hear him. "And Naminé made a beeline straight for you during the rec room incident…"

"Those are her feelings towards me, not mine towards her!"

"You didn't seem to be too unhappy when she was practically on top of you." Amazingly, Sora managed to keep a straight face.

"That's lust, not love!" Roxas protested. "Any straight man would've had the same reaction as me!"

"Ah, but love magnifies any response towards a beautiful woman," Sora grinned, poking his brother in the forehead. "And again, you looked brain-_dead_ when Naminé walked through that door."

"We're just friends," Roxas snarled, gritting his teeth.

"Who will slowly grow to love each other with all their heart," Sora replied in a sing-song voice. He glanced at the clock and grinned. "Oh, visiting hours just began! See you later, Roxas!"

All the blond could do was to stare at the doorframe his brother had occupied a moment before. Roxas was sure that Sora was wrong. Naminé was a close friend, nothing more. He couldn't possibly have any feelings like _that_ for her, right…?

"Son of a bitch…"

A nice, cold Coke would do his suddenly throbbing noggin some good.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

The unknowing cause of Roxas's headache was currently attempting to apply a band-aid to a paper cut, and failing at it.

"Ow, ow, ow, stupid," Naminé mumbled as she fumbled with, and nearly dropped, the small slip of cloth. The cut was on her stronger hand. "Tifa, help?"

The brunette woman looked over the top of her newspaper to see Naminé struggling with the band-aid. "So you can cook like a master chef but you have no idea how to apply a band-aid?" Tifa chuckled, taking the bandage from her young tenant's hand.

"I'm right-handed," Naminé replied simply.

Tifa peeled the waxed paper on the band-aid's underside and quickly slipped it around Naminé's injured finger. "Better?"

"Thank you," Naminé smiled, picking up her own newspaper. Cloud and Tifa had two subscriptions.

"Welcome."

There was a knock at the door. "Oh, there's Cloud…" Tifa murmured, rising from the couch and going to the door. She checked the peephole to see a familiar spiky hairdo. "Yeah, that's him."

Cloud wrapped his arms around his fiancée the second he was through the door, but Tifa immediately pulled away.

"Not in front of our guest!" Tifa scolded with a playful smile. "Later, maybe, but not now."

Naminé pretended she hadn't just seen Cloud attempt to make out with Tifa in the apartment foyer, and then for some reason imagined Roxas doing something like that with _her_.

"Must…kill…imagination," Naminé mumbled, blushing furiously. She was mortified by her fantasy; she wasn't supposed to think about doing that with another man!

"Thinking of somebody?" Cloud said as he walked into the kitchenette. "Roxas, perhaps?"

The artist tilted her head down so that her long blonde tresses covered her still-reddened face.

"I knew it." Tifa's tone was lightly teasing.

"I deny everything," Naminé mumbled, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her whole. Why the devil was she blushing so much?

"Sure…" Cloud replied sarcastically as he began placing groceries in the refrigerator. "That's what everybody says."

"Remember the rec room?" Tifa smirked, sitting back down on the couch. "Roxas's expression was priceless."

She'd thought it was a good idea then, but now she wasn't so sure. Damn Xion and her great ideas…

"You're blushing again, aren't you?" Cloud commented.

Now Demyx, Axel, and (shockingly) _Zexion_ were making near-daily passes at her and all Xion did was laugh at her expression every time that happened. Sora teased her mercilessly because of that, too.

"Yep, she is," Tifa said, peeking under Naminé's bangs.

Really, the only person she wanted to flirt with was—

_No, no, no, no, no, must terminate that train of thought—_

Roxas.

"Damnit," Naminé cursed under her breath.

Only he wouldn't, because every time Roxas saw her he instantly turned beet-red and hastily exited whatever room they were in.

_Why is he avoiding me?_

"Wondering why Roxas doesn't want to talk to you?" Cloud asked, sitting next to her.

Naminé nodded.

"He's afraid," Tifa said.

"But of what?" Naminé replied, leaning back. "Me?"

"Of course not," Cloud said. "He's not afraid of you, he's afraid he'll embarrass himself around you and that he'll lose your respect."

"But Axel, Demyx, Zexion…they aren't afraid around me…"

"Axel has no interest in you at all," Tifa responded with a slight smile. "And Zexion just likes to play mind games with new employees."

"Demyx…is…well, he has a bit of a crush on you, but he knows that you're not interested in him that way," Cloud added. "So he's not scared of talking to you."

"Oh," Naminé said. For some reason, she was somewhat offended that her display hadn't charmed more people.

"But I'm guessing the incident was meant for one person?" Tifa inquired. "Our resident Mapping specialist, perhaps?"

Naminé's silence and resumed blushing would have confirmed that even if she'd spouted a thousand denials.

So, instead, she covered her face with her newspaper. "Oh look," Naminé said quickly. "I found an advertisement for an apartment for sale. Sunset Plaza."

"Really?" Cloud remarked, looking over her shoulder. "Oh, you did. How're you going to pay for it?"

She smirked. "Let me show you something…do you have a computer?"

Tifa rose from her sofa and walked upstairs. She returned a moment later carrying a laptop.

"Thank you," Naminé said. She opened up a Firefox window and typed in a banking site URL.

Cloud and Tifa's eyes widened as they put two and two together. Naminé's smile grew ever wider as she caught sight of their expressions in the reflective screen of the laptop.

"Holy crap," Cloud murmured.

"You have five million dollars in your account?" Tifa said in a strangled voice.

"Stocks," Naminé said simply.

"Holy crap," Cloud said again. "Okay, I take it back—you can pay for that apartment, can't you?"

"How…?" Tifa's tone was soft, shaky—disbelieving.

"Occasionally I got bored of sketching," Naminé said, shrugging. "I thought that going onto the stock market would be good practice for my accounting skills, too."

"Holy crap…" This time both Cloud and Tifa spoke.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Xion slid the key home, twisted, and nudged the door open with her foot.

Her new apartment wasn't quite as spacious as her old one, but in her opinion it felt homier, was more comfortable, and was a lot less expensive to maintain.

She strode into her living room and jumped onto the sofa. Her cat hissed in fear, but calmed once it saw that it was only its master.

"Hey, Kathy," Xion smiled, gently stroking her cat's ears. "How was the new food?"

The grey-and-white cat's only response was a contented purr.

"You'll have to be more specific than that," Xion laughed. "I don't know if you're referring to my petting or the food."

Kathy raised a paw and pointed it at the counter, where the phone was.

"Oh, that's right! My advertisement…"

The feline meowed a "no, I'm talking about my food, it was amazing, buy more", but Xion misinterpreted it as a noise of affirmation.

The brunette grinned in triumph when she found the two messages in her voice-mail inbox. "All right, let's see who wants my old apartment," she said, rubbing her hands together.

And then her grin grew to frightening proportions when she heard who was speaking.

"_Hello, my name is Naminé Lockhart. I saw your advertisement and I'm interested in buying the apartment. My number is 1-510-665-7546."_

"If the next one's Roxas, then my name is Cupid…" Xion murmured, pressing the 'Next' button.

"_Hello, I'm Roxas Leonhart. I found your advertisement for that apartment and I'm interested buying it. My number is 1-510-445-3564."_

"This is going to be so fun," Xion squealed, jumping and down. "Let's see if either of them wants a roommate…"

She had no intention of revealing her true identity to either of the two blondes, thus completely ruining her plot to get them together, so she decided to text them.

Several minutes later, she received a reply from Roxas.

_A roommate? I'm fine with that, I guess. Wait, how many bedrooms are in your apartment?_

Naminé took a bit longer—the girl had probably never used a mobile phone in her entire life—but she managed it in the end. Smart girl.

_I'm willing to live with a roommate. Will both of us have to pay the full price for the apartment, or will we each pay half?_

Xion texted Roxas with a message saying that there were two bedrooms, and she sent Naminé a message stating that both would only have to pay half each.

From Roxas: _Okay. When will we be able to move in?_

From Naminé: _Alright. When will the apartment be available?_

Both were sent a reply stating that they could begin preparations to move in the very next day.

"This is going to be so much fun," Xion snickered again.

Kathy the cat snarled in frustration.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

It seems that Xion's treating RokuNami as some game of chess with the enemies of love. XD

It also seems that I disregard any of Naminé's injuries whenever they occur. My continuity has problems.

Anyways, please R&R! Reviews make me write faster! :3


	12. Awkward Feelings

Sorry for the long wait, guys; from now on, I'll only be able to update L&F once a week. Sorry, again.

And yeah, I made a mistake. It's Sunset _Hill_, not Sunset _Plaza_. Oops!

PS: If you're wondering who the heck Stella is, she's not an OC; Stella Nox Fleuret is a character from Final Fantasy XIII Versus. I swear that Fleuret looks like a twenty-year-old version of Naminé.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"Sunset Hill, huh?" Sora said, his eyes raking the neighborhood for the given address. "Doesn't look like much of a hill to me."

"Same here," Roxas replied. He and Sora had walked there and were now scouting out the area; Roxas wasn't moving into the apartment before he'd had a chance to check it out.

Sunset Hill was, in fact, a hill. It was just that a rather large portion of the hill had been carved out and replaced with a massive apartment complex. According to the seller, Apartment #23 was located on the upper left side of the enormous building.

"I see it," Sora said, pointing up at a medium-sized apartment connected to the ground by a ridiculously high staircase. "And there's no elevator."

Roxas shrugged. "No use complaining about that," the younger Leonhart sighed, stepping onto the first step.

Approximately five minutes, five dozen steps, and five hundred fiery examples of sailor's language later, the brothers weren't even halfway up and both were winded.

"What—_idiot_—chose _not_ to—put an elevator—into this complex?" Sora wheezed, wiping sweat off his soaked brow. Twilight Town's perpetual sunshine was quickly becoming a curse rather than a blessing.

"If I ever meet—the bastard—who designed—this place—" Roxas snarled, pulling himself up using the railing. "I'm going to—give him—a piece of my _mind_!"

There was the noise of screeching tires from the plaza below, and both Leonharts looked down. They might've suffered vertigo had it not been for their complete shock at what they saw.

"Is that Cloud's car?" Sora asked. Then he noticed that his brother had disappeared. "Roxas?"

The blond had completely forgotten about his exhaustion, the harsh sunlight beating down on his face, and damn near everything. His only wish to get away as far as he could, because now he knew who his new roommate was.

Sora, however, had neither the energy nor the desire to flee. Instead, he stayed where he was and continued watching.

Far below, Naminé and Cloud had no idea that their employer was observing them.

"I'm just thankful you're not Tifa," Cloud muttered as he apprehensively scanned the stairs leading up to Apartment 23. "Then I'd be lugging a hundred pounds of your stuff up what looks to be a hundred feet."

Over the weekend, Naminé had bought new clothes and new…err…_woman's items_…other than the simple sundress she had worn to the subway station.

"I don't need much," the artist replied, not catching the biting sarcasm of Cloud's words. "And that doesn't look like a hundred feet to me—more like fifty or sixty."

"Was that supposed to comfort me?" Cloud mumbled, pulling a suitcase out of the trunk. "I know what my name is, but I've always had a fear of heights."

"You volunteered," Naminé pointed out, slinging two duffels. "You can't back out now."

Cloud grumbled something impolite under his breath before heading for the bottom of the staircase.

Far up, near the platform of the apartment door, Roxas paused to catch his breath and check on the progress of Naminé and Cloud up the stairs. His eyes bugged out when he saw them talking to Sora.

"Are you my new roommate, Sora?" Naminé asked, surprised. "I thought—"

"Not me," the studio boss interrupted. He pointed up at a spiky-haired head that instantly vanished when he did so. "Roxas."

At the mention of the blond, Naminé's eyes widened.

"Roxas?" Cloud muttered, raising an eyebrow. "This is Xion's work, isn't it?"

"No, you think?" Sora replied sardonically.

"You knew?" Naminé gasped.

Sora winked. "Remember? 'Preparations'?"

"Oh…" Naminé blushed and clapped a hand over her eyes at the memory of the rec room incident. "But it was just for that one time!"

Cloud and Sora shared a look of mutual disbelief and shook their heads.

"Never mind," the studio boss said, clapping a hand on Naminé's shoulders. "Let's get you set up in that apartment…with Rox-aaaaassssss…"

"Can't you just let that go?" Naminé pleaded, blushing again.

"No."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

The inside of the apartment had a simple design; from a bird's-eye view, minus the rooms' doors, it would be an 'E' shape. The broad back of the 'E', the main room, was the largest room and the one connected to the front door. The kitchen, one end-prong of the 'E', was accessed through a folding door, and on the wall beside said door, there was a window connecting to the living room. Two other doors presumably led to the bedrooms, which were also connected by a shared bathroom.

"Where is he?" Cloud asked, looking around at the apparently empty apartment.

"In hiding," Sora remarked. The studio boss strode into the kitchen. "And…I found him."

There was cry of "Let go of me!" and a _thwack_, followed by a painful-sounding _crunch_, a yelp of pain, a choking noise, and finally Sora dragging an unconscious Roxas into the foyer.

"What did you do to him?" Cloud muttered, shaking his head.

"Headlock," Sora said cheerfully, dumping his brother's comatose body on the carpet and kicking it. Hard. "Yo, Roxy, wake up!"

Roxas instantly shot up and slugged Sora in the knee, staggering the elder brother. "Don't call me that!"

Sora's response was to box Roxas in the ears. "Respect your elders, kiddo!"

"You're barely four years older than me!"

"Key-word: _older_."

"YAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Naminé giggled as she watched the two brothers roughhouse. The soft sound, so much in contrast to the shouts, snarls, and various other violent noises, instantly made Roxas freeze where he was.

_Oh…crap…_

"Overreacting, much?" Sora muttered, shoving Roxas off of himself. "It's just a nickname, Roxas…Roxas? Roxas? Helloooo?"

The blond didn't move, didn't speak. Well, unless you count a strangled mewl as speech…

Then he bolted into another room and slammed the door shut.

"Why does he always do that around me?" Naminé sighed with a touch of sadness. "Run away from me, I mean…?"

"Why do you think?" Cloud responded dryly.

"I just don't know," Naminé mumbled. "Why? Does he hate me or something?"

"He doesn't hate you," Sora said gently, reassuringly clapping a hand on her shoulder. "He's just confused about his feelings for you, that's all."

"Feelings…?"

"You'll see," Sora commented. "Come on, let's unpack your stuff."

Inside the bedroom, Roxas slumped against the door and sank down to the carpet. Naminé thought he hated her? But why would she care, anyways?

Roxas sighed and rested his head against the white-painted door.

"Why does she make me feel this way?" he mumbled. "Damn you, Cupid. Damn you to hell."

There was a knock at the door.

"Roxas, are you okay in there?" Sora sounded a bit worried.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," Roxas replied. "I think I'll take this bedroom."

"Okay." The sound of sneakers rustling against carpet disappeared.

Outside, Naminé was pulling and twisting and doing everything she could to try and open the door of the other bedroom, to no avail.

"No wonder that person sold this apartment," the blonde grunted as she fruitlessly heaved at the door.

Cloud and Sora exchanged looks. She still hadn't figured out who was the former owner of the apartment?

"Here, Naminé, let me try…" Cloud stepped forward and moved the artist aside, before tugging on the doorknob himself. "Yep, it's broken."

"Not broken," someone behind them commented. "Locked, from the inside."

All three whirled around to see a smiling Xion leaning against the doorframe.

"So you were the one who sold this apartment to me and Roxas?" Naminé asked, incredulous. "Wait, then why did you lock off this room?"

Xion's smile widened. "Why do you think?"

"No idea…" But Naminé had a hunch as to why Xion was forcing her to share a bedroom with Roxas. Actually, not a hunch as of now—more like a confirmed hypothesis, if Xion's shit-eating grin was anything to go by.

"Okay, Naminé," Sora said, trying to hold back a grin. "There's no use playing dumb. Everybody knows that Roxas's fallen head over heels for you and you reciprocate."

There was a simultaneous shout of "WHAAAAAAAT?" from within Roxas's bedroom and Naminé's open mouth.

"I do not have feelings for Naminé!" Roxas yelled, hurling his door open. His face was a rich tint of crimson.

"Likewise!" the artist added, blushing furiously. "What makes you even think that?"

"You'll see why," Xion said, her grin turning wicked. She tossed a small bag at Roxas. "Those are the keys. Don't lose them."

_And don't lose her_, the brunette silently added.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

The office of Terra Xemnas was a morbid place—no light, save for a single fluorescent strip; no sounds, except for its master's fingers tapping away at a keyboard; and no color, as its walls were a bleak shade of beige-gray. Shadows and a faint smell of sterility was everywhere.

There was a clipped knock at the door twenty feet from Xemnas's imposing ebony desk.

"Enter," the man said in a cold monotone.

The door silently swung open to reveal Scar Nose. A spotlight snapped on and tracked him all the way to a spot between the door and the desk.

"Sir," the blue-haired man said, respectfully kneeling. "You summoned me?"

Xemnas gave no answer at first, only tenting his fingers and staring at Scar Nose.

"Mr. Saix," he said finally. "You are aware of the troubles your repeated failures in recapturing my daughter have caused me?"

Saix's head was still down. "Yes, sir. I do not expect forgiveness."

"Indeed."

A sneering man with long black sideburns and dreadlocks stepped out from the shadow next to Xemnas's desk. Saix's left eye twitched ever so slightly when he saw him.

"Xaldin will be taking command of this assignment," Xemnas said. "Saix, you are dismissed."

"Sir, I must protest this decision," Saix said carefully. "I do not doubt Mr. Xaldin's leadership, but this mission will require…a special touch."

Xemnas raised an eyebrow. With any other of his agents, he would have rebuked them immediately for speaking up, but Saix had time and again proven himself to be extremely perceptive in matters such as this one. He would be listened to, if only for one more time.

"What do you mean?" Xemnas inquired after a moment.

Saix restrained a sigh of relief.

"Miss Naminé seems highly attached to those people who took her in," he began. "Especially that studio manager and the blond boy—Roxas, I believe his name to be."

"Go on."

"I propose that we send someone special to Naminé to persuade her to return," Saix stated. "Someone whom she knows, someone whom she _trusts_."

"And do we have anyone who is like this?" Xemnas asked.

"We don't _have_ him, per se," Saix replied. "But should he succeed—and I have no doubt that he will—we will."

Xemnas understood whom Saix was referring to now.

"I see," the master said slowly. "You are dismissed, Mr. Saix."

"Yes, sir," Saix said. He stood, bowed one more time, and exited through the door.

When the agent's footsteps faded away, Xemnas tapped a small button. "Mr. Xigbar?"

"I see him, sir" was the cool response.

And then the 7.62x51mm NATO round streaked through the air, flying straight and true into the back of Saix's head. Blood and brains splattered against the pillar he had been walking past, and Saix keeled over, smashing what was left of his face against the cold marble floor.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Wow, Xemnas is an asshole.

I'm sorry about the sucky ending, but the best one I thought up turned out to be too quick. You'll see in Chapter 13 (Roxas's number, wink wink)

REVIEW. Please?

PS: Sorry about not responding to reviews last time. I'll make sure to respond this time.


	13. Fun With Alcohol

Sorry guys, but I'm not going to elaborate on their apartment life; that'll take too much time, and I don't want L&F to be too long. I'll release a series of one-shots depicting that, but other than that, nothing. Just assume that Naminé and Roxas just get along.

BTW: Exactly what's important about Chapter 13 may not be what you expect, just saying. ^^

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

I only own the story itself. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

The next day.

"Mr. Leonhart, you can come in now—"

He was by the bed before the doctor could finish her words. The brown-haired Dr. Aerith Gainsborough gave him an amused look before walking out the door.

Sora tenderly stroked his bedridden wife's cheek, brushing a loose strand of scarlet hair behind her ear. He pressed a kiss to the woman's nose.

"Miss me?" Kairi said softly, looking up at her husband with her blue-violet eyes twinkling. Unfortunately, she was still too weak to even sit up.

"You have no idea," Sora whispered, forcing back more tears. She had woken up only an hour before, and this was the first time he'd had to interact with her while she was conscious. "I thought you were going to die."

Kairi smiled mischievously. "What happened to the carefree Sora I fell for, huh?"

"He died when he saw your body lying in that alleyway," he said, clenching his teeth. "If Naminé hadn't found you when she did…"

"Then we both owe her one," Kairi murmured, working her shoulder.

"I can't forgive myself for what I said about her," Sora muttered, leaning back. "Roxas and I got into a fight about it—I said she'd be nothing but trouble."

"Did you say sorry?"

"Yes, mother," Sora replied sarcastically. Both laughed, but Kairi's was a little forced for a certain reason.

She sighed. "Sora, speaking of mothers…"

His back stiffened. There was only one reason she'd say that.

"I'm pregnant, but the baby might not have survived…"

And once again uncharacteristic fury blazed in his eyes. He made to storm out the door, but Kairi caught his sleeve and pulled him back down (although it was more his choice to sit rather than the hospitalized redhead being strong enough to force him to).

"We need to ask the doctors," Kairi said, looking into her husband's eyes. "Can…can you call Dr. Gainsborough?"

Slowly the rage died down in Sora's eyes. The studio master sighed and nodded, getting up and exiting the room.

She had actually fallen for his easygoing, laidback ways (they'd driven her insane at first, actually), but another thing had drawn Kairi to her spiky-haired husband. Sure, he was friendly, kind, caring, and everything a sane girl could ask for, but it was just something else that outmatched all of his good qualities.

Once he'd set his sights on doing something, he wouldn't give up until he got it. That unbending tenacity was what broke her mask of playing hard to get, was what had allowed him to form the studio in the first place, and was what allowed him to graduate university with equal grades to her.

She smiled and stared at the tiled ceiling, patiently waiting for Sora to return with Dr. Gainsborough.

"I wonder how the artists are doing…" Kairi murmured.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"Hi, Roxas!"

"Um, h-hi, N-N-Naminé…" Roxas tried to dive for the safety of the modeling office, but a hand held him fast.

"Not so fast, Roxy."

Larxene had watched Roxas and Naminé beat around the bush about their very obvious crushes on each other, and Bug-Hair thought that Xion's plan was working out quite well.

Now, though…

"Let go of me!"

"Not until you say hello to Naminé."

"I already did!"

"_Without_ stuttering. And you _will_ give her a hug, because she looks pretty down this morning."

Axel clomped down the stairs to the third floor.

"I can fix that," Pyro said, holding up a mug of freshly brewed coffee. "But Roxy still has to give Yuki that hug."

Roxas glared at the pyrotechnics master. "Some help you are."

"Just trying to help you get past your own cowardice." Axel shook his head, amazed at Roxas's hostility. "So ungrateful, man…"

Naminé looked from Larxene to Axel to Roxas (who looked away when she moved her ice-blue gaze to him). She raised an eyebrow and made to ask for that hug, to spite Roxas more than anything else, but a familiar voice cut her off.

"Kids, I'm home!"

"Boss!" The four rushed down to the first floor, with Zexion, Xion, Demyx, Cloud, and Tifa hot on their heels.

Sora was grinning widely and it was genuine happiness—something none of the CGI artists had seen on his face while Kairi was in the hospital.

"What's up, Sora?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're looking unusually happy today."

"Kairi woke up!"

Silence.

Naminé was the first to react; she shrieked in joy and hugged the first person she could reach—who, of course, turned out to be Roxas, whose face turned cherry red before his eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp, much to Naminé's chagrin.

Cloud and Tifa embraced, chuckling at the two, as Zexion and Demyx knocked fists. Axel pressed his lips to Larxene's cheek; she slapped him before kissing him back, herself. Xion pumped a fist.

"So when'll she be released?" Axel inquired.

"The doctors say she'll be released in two weeks, but that she should rest at home for another three days before returning to work," Sora said, still grinning hugely.

"Con…congrats, bro," Roxas muttered drowsily, before he fainted again. Naminé cried out in horror and immediately began trying to shake him awake.

All the studio boss could do was to stare in confusion at his unconscious brother and the beautiful blonde frantically doing everything she could do wake said brother in her arms.

"Okay…" Sora said slowly. Then he turned to Cloud and Tifa. "It's your guys' engagement first year anniversary, right?"

Both nodded.

"Well, I was planning on taking everybody to dinner at a restaurant," Sora explained. "You guys deserve a reward and the studio can afford it."

"You sure about that?" Axel grinned. "Demyx and Larxene eat like hungry lions."

Bug-hair smacked her boyfriend over the head while Water Boy shrugged sheepishly.

"I'm pretty sure," Sora remarked dryly. "We're going to Mickey's, by the way."

Cheers shook the first floor of the studio.

"Wait, I don't have to pay, right?" Naminé asked nervously, hugging Roxas to her.

"What do you mean?" Sora replied, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Long story," Tifa interjected, setting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "And no, Naminé, you don't pay. It's all on the boss."

Roxas woke up to find his face pressed into the tender, warm skin of Naminé's neck and promptly passed out a heartbeat later.

"…right," Sora said, smirking at his brother's weakness. "Anyways, go home, change, and we'll meet in front of Mickey's at…seven sharp, okay?"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"I feel a bit…overdressed."

"Naminé, honey, you're dressing to impress. The rest of us aren't."

"Tifa, he's going to have the same reaction as last time. That's a given."

Cloud, Tifa, and Naminé were at the former two's apartment. The latter had brought over a selection of outfits from her and Roxas's apartment, as per Tifa's instructions.

"Everyone's going to be wearing jeans and a T-shirt."

"Except you."

"Why can I not simply wear something more casual than…this?"

The 'this' Naminé referred to in a doubtful tone was a white, above-the-thigh, figure-hugging dress with floral patterns along the hem. She supposed she should be thankful that it had straps, but Mother would've had a fit if she saw her little girl in the clothing of 'a common whore'.

Cloud, clad in dark jeans and a gunmetal grey sweatshirt that read 1ST CLASS, rubbed his forehead. "I don't see what's wrong with that dress, Naminé."

"Personally, I think it looks gorgeous on you," Tifa smiled, elbowing her fiancé. She was dressed in light blue jeans and a light green jacket.

"It's too short," Naminé complained, turning around in front of the mirror. At its longest, the skirt extended to her mid-thigh.

"I don't care," Cloud replied, grabbing both women's arms and pulling them out of the bedroom. "We're going to be late, you two."

Mickey's was a prosperous-looking establishment. A neon sign mounted above the front door proclaimed the name of the restaurant along with its mascot: a mouse with ridiculously large and round ears.

Axel and Larxene had driven together, as had Sora and Roxas. Xion, Zexion, and Demyx had all carpooled in the latter's SUV. And yes, everybody was wearing casual jeans and jackets.

Naminé took a deep breath as Cloud and Tifa exited the car.

"This is it," the blonde murmured, before opening the door and sliding out—

"_Whoa_!"

—and promptly tripping and nearly falling on the pavement before she caught herself with the handle. Her cheeks dusted red with embarrassment at her clumsiness even as Roxas rushed forward to assist (much to everyone else's amusement).

"Naminé, are you all—" Roxas nearly choked on his own words as he caught sight of the artist. She closed her eyes again in an attempt to compose herself as gentle laughter drifted through the air.

"You look nice, Roxas," the blonde said, opening her ice-blues.

"You too, Naminé," the CGI artist replied, forcing his pulse to _slow the fuck down_ and his currently cherry-red face to assume a charming smile. He'd acted like an idiot around Naminé these past few days and he intended to change that. "In fact, you look absolutely stunning."

"Th-thank you…"

He offered her his arm and she took it, and arm in arm the two walked towards the door of the restaurant. Roxas glared at Tifa as they passed her.

"You planned this, didn't you?"

The voluptuous brunette snickered. "It took you this long to figure that out?"

"Bite me, Tifa."

"Sorry, but I'm already engaged, Roxy-Woxy."

The interior of the restaurant was well-lit, quite stuffy with the combined body heat of the numerous patrons, and had a homey feel. There was a tiny, cheery woman standing on a stool in the reception booth.

"Hello, Minnie," Sora grinned, waving.

"Hello, Sora," the woman squeaked, grinning back. "Where's Kairi?"

The studio boss sighed and scratched his head. "She fell down the stairs, so she's at the hospital."

"Oh, that's _dreadful_," Minnie sighed, shaking her head. "I do hope she recovers soon. Oh, and who's this lovely young lass on your brother's arm?"

Naminé curtsied and smiled charmingly (she hoped). "I'm Naminé Lockhart," she said, using the false surname she was instructed to use by its owner. "Tifa's younger sister. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Minnie."

The tiny woman raised an eyebrow. "It's nice to meet you too, Miss Naminé," Minnie replied. "But it's really no use lying to me. Tell me, what's your real last name?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that," Naminé admitted.

Minnie smiled warmly. "That's perfectly alright, Miss Naminé," the woman said. She checked a piece of paper. "So, Sora, one of the big tables?"

"For ten, yes," Sora replied, nodding. "Thanks, Minnie."

"You're welcome," she replied and gestured at a tall, leggy Viera to come over. "Fran, please escort the artists to their regular table."

"Yes, Ms. Minnie," the Viera waitress responded in a smoky, Eastern-European accented voice. She turned to the artists. "Please follow me."

Fran led them to a massive round table with twelve seats set around it. The waitress moved the two extra to another table before motioning the studio staff to sit, bowing, and leaving.

"Whoa," Demyx murmured as he stared after the woman's behind. "Damn, that is one hot girl…"

"Gawrsh, Demyx, if Fran heard you say that, she'd be beyond embarrassed," a tall, lanky man chuckled as he approached the table. He pulled out a small notebook. "What will your drinks be today?"

"Red wine for everybody, Goofy," Sora replied, to nods all around. "Water for Roxas."

"Hey!" the younger Leonhart protested. "Why don't I get to drink?"

"Because you're my designated driver," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "Duh."

"Bastard."

Roxas pouted rather cutely, Naminé noticed, and she had to giggle at the other blond's annoyance. Then she realized that 'everybody' included her, as well.

"Mr. Sora, I don't drink," the blonde said, but Goofy had already left.

"Too late," Xion sighed dramatically.

Several minutes later…

"So it turns out that Cloud wears _green boxers_," Tifa slurred, blinking rapidly. The brunette had already downed three shots, and she was well and truly drunk. "With freaking _dinosaurs_ on them. I mean, who the _fuck_ wears _dinosaur_ boxers anymore?"

"Tifa, shut up," Cloud groaned, burying his head in his arms. In comparison, her fiancé hadn't even finished off his first glass. "God, she always says the most embarrassing things about me when she gets drunk…"

"But you love that about me!"

"I _hate_ that about you, Tifa."

"So, in order," Zexion said, swaying slightly. "We've found out that Cloud collects fucking _Voltron_ action figures, has had a crush on fucking _Asuka_ Langley _Soryu_ for damn near _five years_ ever since he discovered NG fucking _Evangelion_, and now, he wears fucking dinosaur-encrusted green _boxers_."

"That's pretty much _it_," Xion snarled, barely avoiding slamming the delicate wineglass down on the table like a tankard of beer. "And _that's_ a _whole_ lot of fucking, Zexion. Makes me _wonder_ about you…"

"Am I the only person here who can hold his alcohol?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow. The studio boss had had six glasses so far and his vision wasn't even blurry, which was just _unreal_. "I mean, you guys are hammered."

"No _shit_ we're drunk, boss," Demyx rasped. Then he turned around and wolf-whistled. "Hey Fraaa~an! Just wanted to say you're hotter than a fucking _sauna_!"

Inside the waiters' lounge, Fran coughed and choked as water spurted all over her respiratory system and out of her nose.

"_What_ did that boy just say about me?" she gasped, shakily wiping herself off. She was blushing bright red all the way up to the tips of her long ears, which were twitching in half-outrage and half- embarrassment.

"Just ignore him," Goofy advised. "But believe him too. You _are_ hot."

Outside at the artists' table, a widely grinning Larxene turned to Naminé.

"So, Yuki," Bug-hair growled. "Gonna drink that wine of yours?"

Naminé had been staring into the depths of her drink for the past ten minutes, wanting to try it but hesitant of the consequences. Tifa and Demyx came to mind.

"Don't hog it all, Larxene," a not quite drunk (yet) Axel muttered, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's waist and pulling her against him. "Let the poor girl try some, will you?"

"I wouldn't do it if I were you, Naminé," Roxas warned. "You'll get what's known as a hangover in the morning, and trust me when I tell you it's not pleasant."

"I know what a hangover is, Roxas," Naminé mumbled, swirling the burgundy liquid in her glass. "I've had one before, and it was a lot worse than just 'not pleasant'."

"Ooh, _innocent_ little _Naminé's_ gotten _drunk_ before?" Xion snickered, leaning forward. "Who'd you have _sex_ with after?"

"Xion, cut it out," Roxas frowned, poking the brunette girl's forehead—

—just as Naminé dumped the contents of her wineglass down her throat.

Silence.

Everybody at the table was wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Not as bad as last time," Naminé said, shrugging. "Another glass, please?"

"Whoo!" Larxene cheered hazily, pumping her fist. "You go, girl!"

"As long as you don't start strip-dancing on the table, then okay," Sora murmured, reaching over to refill Naminé's glass.

"Seriously, I don't think Roxas would let her," Cloud said dryly, holding out his own glass for a refill. "I mean, the guy's—"

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

The dry, snarky voice made everybody turn to its source. Naminé's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she recognized the silver-haired, green-eyed boy.

_That's impossible…how did he…_

"R-Riku…?"

"Naminé, who is this guy?" Roxas asked, looking from the blonde to the other boy.

The silver-haired boy smirked in derision. "My name is Riku Jenova," he declared. "I am the son of Sephiroth Jenova."

"So what…?" Sora said. He noticed that Xion was staring murderously at this Riku boy.

"I'm Naminé's fiancé."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

I would've said that this is quite a shocker, but right now all I can think of is how hard it's going to be to write Roxas's reaction to that revelation and how soft my sheets are looking right now.

Well, g'night, guys. Review, please!


	14. I Don't Know

The next chapter of "Jump" might be late but I'll be damned if I miss updating "Lost and Found", which is once a freaking _week_.

Warning: Heavy OOC and violence in this chapter. One of the reasons why I hated writing this one.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

_Fiancé…fiancé…fiancé…_

_Naminé's engaged._

_To that smug snake? Bullshit!_

Roxas didn't know how to react to that one word, fiancé. Was he supposed to be angry at him, angry at her, angry at himself? And for what?

And then there was the surprise. Why had she never told her colleagues, her friends, that she was to be married? Did she not trust them?

Understanding followed the shock. Maybe she had run away because she didn't want to be married, or perhaps she wanted to collect her thoughts before forever binding herself to a man.

He could comprehend all of those emotions.

But he wasn't expecting his heart to suddenly be spiked with pain when he heard that word, fiancé.

"What?" Roxas said, staring disbelievingly from Naminé's delicately beautiful face to this Riku Jenova's smug one. "You—Naminé, you're engaged?"

She looked like she was about to cry.

"Yes…" she mumbled.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sora asked. But his hands were trembling slightly—from anger or the alcohol or something else, Roxas didn't know. "Don't you trust us? Naminé?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, gripping the tablecloth. Squeezing like she was throttling someone. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry."

"Enough of this nonsense," Jenova declared, taking Naminé's elbow. "My love, let us be off from this riff-raff—"

Roxas had no idea why he did what he did next; all he knew was that Riku's presence was making Naminé sad. Making Naminé sad was a capital offense. Therefore, Riku should die.

"Don't touch her, you bastard!"

"Roxas, what're you—?"

"Unhand me, you—!"

The blond CGI artist smashed a fist into Jenova's jaw, sending the other man reeling back with a large bruise on his cheek. The right hook was followed by a roundhouse kick to the knee.

_Crack._

Jenova screamed in agony, a sound that might've horrified Roxas had he not been hell-bent on one thing and one thing only—ripping Riku's head off his shoulders. The blond stalked forward, grabbing Jenova by his collar before—

Before he could do anything else, Sora, Cloud, Axel, and Tifa surrounded him and dragged him back, barely avoiding Roxas's flailing fists.

"Bro, cool it!" Sora shouted, grabbing his brother's arms and pulling them behind the younger Leonhart's back. "No violence! You're better than this, Roxas! ROXAS!"

He didn't hear his brother—he didn't see Sora or anybody else—only Riku, still alive, and the objective of rectifying that as soon as possible—

"Roxas, stop!"

He almost had him, was almost out of those pesky hands' grip—

Naminé lunged forward and slapped Roxas hard across the face.

"Roxas, I said stop!" she shouted, stepping between him and Riku.

As if batteries powering him had been removed, Roxas stopped struggling and stared blankly at the blonde girl.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked dully. "Do you not trust us? Do you not trust _me_?"

They were the exact same words Sora had said to Naminé seconds before, but when Roxas said it, the blonde was overcome by a wave of guilt and horror. She hadn't told them—she could've, what difference would it have made?—but she didn't. Why?

She didn't trust them, after all. Even after all they'd done for her.

"I…" Her voice cracked. "I…don't…"

Xion stood up so fast she knocked over her chair. "Naminé, what the FUCK!" the brunette screamed, pointing a shaking finger at the blonde. "So all this time, you were going to get engaged to this pretty-boy sonofabitch? You used us, you bitch! I thought I could start to trust you!"

_She's right. It's all my fault._

Naminé gulped and shuddered, forcing down her tears. _Don't cry. Mother told me not to cry. Never to cry._

"Silence, all of you!" Jenova barked, unsteadily getting to his feet. "Miss Naminé is coming with me."

The silver-haired man made to grab Naminé's arm. "Come along, now—"

Before anybody could react, before even Roxas could try to attack him again, Xion dove forward and tackled Riku to the ground, hurling punches before both even struck the carpet.

"You motherfucker!" the brunette hollered, smashing her fists into his chest like a gorilla. "Remember me, Mr. Riku? Remember your little _doll_? DO YOU, you pathetic, cowardly, worthless son of a BITCH?"

He was screaming again, but this time in terror, desperately shielding his face and chest from Xion's rage-fueled blows. But the brunette artist seemed as hell-bent on ending Jenova as much Roxas had, and now the latter was trying to pull Xion off of the badly beaten Riku.

In the end it took Cloud, Sora, Roxas, Axel, Tifa, Zexion, Larxene, and Demyx to finally restrain Xion, and by that time Riku was a bloody mess on the carpet.

"Zexion, Demyx, drive her home," Sora ordered, pointing at Xion. They nodded affirmation and dragged the still yelling Xion out the door. "Axel, Larxene, call 911. Also, drag this piece of shit"—he gave a pointed look of disgust at Riku—"outside. His blood's messing up the carpet."

"Yes sir," they chorused, and Larxene pulled out a cell phone. Axel grabbed Riku's legs and began dragging the unconscious man to the door.

"Cloud, Tifa, drive Roxas home," Sora said.

The two motion capture specialists saluted and pulled an unresisting Roxas away.

"What about me, sir?" Naminé asked quietly, staring up at Sora.

The studio boss glared at her. "You're coming with me, missy," he growled, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "You've got a lot to explain."

She just nodded and headed for the door. When she was gone, Sora dropped his mask of sternness and let out a breath.

"This is getting ridiculous," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "First those strange men, then Kairi, and now a fiancé and a fucking brawl…just give me a break, will you?"

The murmurs began as the other customers stared at him with curious eyes fraught with suspicion. He'd almost forgotten that there were other people in the restaurant, so distracting had his artists' fight with (more like slaughter of, in his opinion) Riku been.

When he glanced up, Goofy and Fran were already cleaning up the table, shooting nervous glances at the studio boss. Minnie walked up and pressed a bill into Sora's waiting hand.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sora, but you can't come here again," the receptionist said apologetically. "This is bad for business, and—"

Sora pulled out his wallet and handed Minnie every munny he had. "I understand," the studio boss said. "Keep the change."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

For a man who'd had at least six drinks, twice her actual limit, Naminé reflected, Sora drove remarkably well. The blonde stared out the passenger's window, gazing at the mosaic of dark steel-and-concrete buildings and blindingly bright lights, every color of the rainbow, that seemed to creep along as the car passed them on the highway. The occasional streetlamp momentarily threw the asphalt of the highway into a brilliant illumination, and then the light fell away to complete shadow.

There was only an icy silence inside the car. Naminé wondered how it had been when Sora and Roxas had driven to the restaurant. Had the studio boss teased Roxas? Had Roxas fired back retorts? She knew it would've been lively, based on the blond's volatility when it came to teasing.

Roxas.

She rolled the name on her tongue, not actually saying it out loud, but she let it swirl on her tongue, breathing it out.

Why had he assaulted Riku like that? Xion presumably had had a more than good reason, judging by that comment about 'little doll', but Roxas had not. The blond CGI artist had more than likely earned Riku's ire, along with his father's, all for the sake of…what?

Protecting her?

She'd had no need of protection; Riku would never have hurt her. So why had Roxas jumped Jenova like that?

"Naminé?"

The blonde snapped out of her reverie, startled by the quiet statement.

"Yes, sir?" she said, turning to face Sora.

The studio boss's eyes were still on the road and she was out of his field of vision, but for some reason it felt like his eyes were boring into her soul like oil drills.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked. When she began apologizing profusely again, he held out a hand. "Don't apologize any further; I already know you're guilty about it. But tell me, why didn't you tell us?"

Not really how she'd envisioned breaking the silence, but it was better than nothing.

"Because…" She halted. She couldn't find a reason, she just hadn't told them. Plain and simple. "I—I don't know."

"Are you sure you don't know?" Sora said, chancing a glance at her.

"Yes."

"Alright, then," Sora said coolly, and his attention returned to the highway. "But you'll forgive me if I don't believe you."

She wondered how Roxas would have replied to that.

_Whatever? Believe what you will? I don't care? I'm telling the truth? Go ahead and don't trust me, I don't really care anyways? Fuck you, Sora?_

She smiled slightly. That last would be so out of character for her.

"I'm telling the truth, sir," Naminé stated, still looking at Sora. "I don't know why I didn't tell you."

"That's not possible," Sora said flatly. He glanced at her again. "If you're going to lie to me and say you don't know, Naminé, you may as well try to lie convincingly."

That quiet reply was hundreds of times worse than if he had yelled at her. Anger, shock, even denouncement, she could've taken with a smile.

What she couldn't stand was the disappointment in Sora's voice. _I thought I could've trusted you_, he seemed to be saying. _This is worse than with Kairi._

And Naminé remembered all too well what he'd said about her outside of Kairi's hospital room.

"I'm not lying!" she cried angrily. "I don't know if I forgot or if I was never told or something, but I really don't know why!"

Her eyes dropped to her lap. "But you probably don't believe me, don't you?" she added, her tone bitter and cynical.

Sora sighed and drove down an exit ramp, braking at the stoplight.

"Okay, I was wrong to call you out, Naminé," he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. "And this issue is over. Nobody talks about it anymore. Now, we need to figure out if you're going to follow through with that engagement or stay single and continue working at the studio."

The light turned green and Sora turned the car to the left.

"I'm going to have to get married," the blonde mumbled, gripping the hem of her skirt. "My father will never allow me to keep a job here. In fact, he'd never have let me come here—to Twilight Town—in the first place."

"Did your father send those goons out after the studio?"

"Yes…"

Sora was very quiet. He knew he should've been enraged—Naminé had essentially confirmed that she was the reason why the studio had been searched and Kairi beaten nearly to death—but he couldn't bring himself to be angry at the clearly contrite girl.

"My father's agents' names are Saix, Xigbar, Xaldin, Marluxia, Lexaeus, and Luxord," she continued softly. "You've met Xigbar and Marluxia already. Saix may have had a hand in Kairi's beating—he's extremely violent."

"Oh," Sora said.

"Are you mad at me, now?" Naminé mumbled, not daring to look up. "You have every right to be…sir."

He sighed again. "No, I'm not," he replied. "I'm just…surprised."

"About…about what?"

"That Roxas proved, once again, that while he may be cool around girls, he's always going to pick the ones that cause the most trouble," Sora chuckled. He glanced at Naminé again. "No offense, of course."

"Of course," she said, but she was smiling.

They drove in silence again, but this time the quiet was slightly less frigid than it had been before their conversation.

This time Naminé was the one who broke the silence.

"Sora, how are the others going to react?" she asked. Her voice was quiet once again, not betraying the nervousness roiling at her insides. "Are they going to accept my telling them I don't know why I didn't tell them? Are they going to yell at me? Will they even trust me again after this?"

The studio boss pulled into the Sunset Hill parking complex and killed the car engine, letting the quiet rumbles fade, before giving his answer.

"I don't know."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

And like Naminé, I don't know why I don't like how this chapter came out. One of the reasons is listed above, but the rest of it is just a jumbled mishmash of mental concepts and images that are untranslatable to English. ^^

As always, please review!


	15. Sorry! AN

I'm sorry I didn't update guys, but I had to spend the four spare hours on the train ride to LA to write a chemistry lab report. Next time I'll do my best to post both Chapters 15 and 16, okay? Thanks for understanding (if you don't, then that's okay)!


	16. Why She Ran

There will be a massive twist in this chapter. Just saying.

Also, if there are any inconsistencies between actions and explanations of said actions, TELL ME. There's nothing I hate worse in my stories than bad plot continuity.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

I only own this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Everybody except Cloud, Tifa, and Kairi had come. The former two said that they didn't really have the heart to see Naminé, and the latter hadn't come for obvious reasons.

It hurt all the same to the blonde.

"Well, speak up, Naminé!" Xion barked, setting her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Roxas shot an angry look at the brunette. "Xion, don't yell at her."

"Well why shouldn't I, Roxy?" Xion sneered, pointing a finger at Naminé. "She lied to all of us!"

"She didn't lie, she just didn't tell us!" Roxas said. "There's a difference, _Doll_."

And then he was shoved back.

"Don't call me that!" Xion shouted, tears bunching up in the corner of her eyes. "Don't _fucking call me that_, you blond sonofa—!"

Before she could take another step, Demyx and Zexion were suddenly pulling her back by her arms. Xion kicked behind her, almost hitting the two.

"Both of you need to _calm down_!" Sora thundered, glaring at Xion and Roxas. "Roxas, provoking Xion was uncalled for. Xion, yelling at Naminé and attacking Roxas was also uncalled for. Both of you will quietly let Naminé explain herself—am I clear?"

The two nodded sullenly, traded glares, and sat back down.

Naminé's fingers knitted together and she squeezed, twisting her fingers. The pain helped to focus her mind.

"You can begin now, Naminé."

"Where do I start?"

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Everything, Naminé. I may have forgiven you already, but I want to hear everything. Why you ran away. Why you're engaged. How that piece of shit, Jenova, managed to find us. And why you chose to stay here."

She fidgeted. She would probably regret telling them this…but at the same time, what other choices did she have?

"And what if I lie about some reasons?" she asked quietly.

"Then you lied and you'll have to live with lying to us," the studio boss replied.

"Won't you be able to—?"

"Stop stalling!" Xion yelled.

Naminé sighed. "Very well then—but be warned that I'm not going to tell the entire truth."

"Get on with it," Xion snarled.

She took a deep breath. Exhaled. This was it…

…

_The petite blonde girl marched along the hallway, wondering what it was that her father wanted with her. He almost never summoned her, not since her mother had died of breast cancer four years ago._

_Mr. Xigbar was waiting for her outside the office doors. She'd always liked him the best out of all her fathers' bodyguards; he was friendly, witty, and always had a ready shoulder to cry on. _

"_Your father's waiting for you," the brunette man said, jutting his chin at the door. _

"_Thank you, Mr. Xigbar," she replied, nodding._

_For once, Xemnas's office was well-lit, but the man himself was sitting behind his massive ebony desk as usual. There was another anomaly: a handsome silver-haired boy standing next to the desk._

"_Father, who is this?" Naminé asked, glancing from Xemnas to the strange boy._

_Xemnas had his poker face on, but he was wondering how he was going to break the news to his daughter. He didn't care about Naminé's opinion when it came to any other issue, but marriage was something different entirely—he at least owed his daughter a good husband. He knew that Stella would've sugared up the announcement, but he'd never been as good with PR as his wife. _

"_This is the son of one of my business associates, Naminé," the man said. "He is…he will be…"_

_Naminé raised an eyebrow. Her father was hiding something, wasn't he?_

_The boy stepped forward. "My name is Riku Jenova," the boy said, smiling charmingly. "You look just as beautiful as I remember, Miss Naminé."_

'_Remember'? But she had never seen this boy before. She recognized his last name—Jenova, as in Jenova Armories, as in Sephiroth Jenova—but still._

"_I don't believe we've met, Mr. Jenova," she replied with a frown._

"_You're right, you've never met me, but I have seen you before," Riku said. "And please, call me Riku. My father is Mr. Jenova."_

_What was that word Mr. Xigbar had once used to describe Mr. Marluxia's uncanny ability to sneak up on people and scare the living daylights out of them? Oh yes, creepy._

_That was exactly what she thought of this Riku boy._

"_Alright," she said. She turned to Xemnas. "Father, you called for me?"_

"_I did," he replied. "To meet this young man, that is."_

_Silence._

"_Well?"_

_Riku shifted slightly. He had thought that he could dazzle this girl like he had those three others, Xion, Selphie, and Yuna, but it looked like Naminé would be a challenge._

_Hell, she hadn't even said that it was a pleasure to meet him._

"_Miss Naminé, would you confer me the honor of escorting you to a ball hosted by my father next week?" he asked._

_Naminé gritted her teeth; she didn't really like leaving the house. She glanced at her father, who gave her the look. That look—eyes slightly narrowed, chin pointed down so that his cold gaze could impale her soul, his mouth pressed together in a thin line. _

"_Naminé," Xemnas said firmly. "Answer him, girl."_

_And she felt fear. That was the look that felled the resolve of angered women, the courage of strong men, and the arrogance of rising stars. How could one little girl like her withstand its power?_

"_Um…alright," she said nervously, eyes flickering everywhere except directly in front of her. "Alright, I—I'll attend this ball with you."_

…

Everybody was staring at her now. Even Xion looked surprised.

"I'd sort of thought your father would be more evil," Sora commented. "I mean, you said that he didn't even consider you human…"

"I lied when I said that," Naminé mumbled, looking at her lap. "Well, half-lied—he doesn't really care about what I think, normally. But I know he loved me and my mother, even if he didn't normally show it."

And then it clicked for everybody.

"So that's why he sent all those guys after us," Roxas said, his eyes wide. "He missed you and he wanted you to come home."

"Yes," she replied quietly. "But…but I couldn't. I just couldn't."

"Scratch what I just said," Sora growled, crossing his arms. "You mean that my _wife_ was beaten to within an _inch_ of her _life_ just so you would come back? What the hell!"

"I think it's more along the lines that they thought you had kidnapped me," Naminé said softly. "Mr. Xigbar and Mr. Marluxia in particular cared about me like older brothers."

"And they overreacted," Zexion observed.

"Yes."

"So…why did you run away?" Roxas asked. "I mean, it wasn't an arranged marriage, right? So that's not really a reason…"

Inhale. Exhale.

...

_She was dressed in a simple light blue, ankle-length halter-top gown. He was dressed in an equally simple black business suit with a gunmetal grey tie. They entered arm in arm through the soaring entrance of the Jenova manor._

_The guests, who numbered over five dozen distinguished persons, had fawned over both of them—the charming, handsome son of Sephiroth Jenova and the exquisitely beautiful but rarely seen daughter of Terra Xemnas. Naminé had enjoyed the attention at first, but she was quickly growing tired of the constant compliments and flattery._

_So she wandered off to the gardens when Riku wasn't looking. _

"_This place is beautiful," she whispered, gazing around at the forests of wildflowers and rare trees. A massive fountain dominated the center of this section of the gardens; a walkway led over the fountain pool, and jets of sparkling water sprang over like an aquatic vault roof._

_A squirrel leaped down from one of the trees and scurried over to her. She knelt down and tentatively reached out to stroke its head, careful not to startle it. There was a long, faded reminder on her palm of why she shouldn't do that._

_The tiny woodland animal stayed perfectly still as her fingers gently combed its ears—and then it exploded into motion up the tree trunk as clacking footsteps emanated from the tiled walkway behind Naminé._

"_Why hello there, Miss Naminé," Riku called from behind her. "I wasn't expecting to find you in the gardens."_

"_They're lovely," she replied, straightening. "Why didn't you show me them earlier?"_

_That might've been across the line, but for some reason she found herself not caring._

_Riku didn't either. He was paying more attention to the vision in sapphire standing before him. He'd thought she was beautiful before, but now, standing before the green and red and blue and white panorama of the garden, silhouetted by the cool night, her delicate features illuminated to a glow by the lanterns…_

_He didn't realize that he'd just fallen in love. All he knew was that he was on his knees in front of her, with a small box held out in front of him. It's too early, his mind was screaming at him, don't be hasty!_

_Naminé's ice blues widened in total shock and her hands flew to her mouth as Riku knelt before her, the ring glittering in its velvet bed._

"_Naminé Xemnas," he said softly. "Will you marry me?"_

_She suddenly found that she couldn't breathe, but she forced out the words anyways._

_And then she stopped dead cold—what was she going to say? She had barely known Riku for a week. She wanted so badly to be able to love somebody, to be able to lovingly stare into their eyes like she'd seen her parents do so many times._

_But she didn't love Riku. Not yet, anyways._

_She decided to give him a chance._

"_Yes."_

_Riku smiled and rose up to capture her lips…but she didn't have the heart to return the kiss and fool him into thinking she returned his feelings._

…

All Xion could think was that Riku had been incredibly stupid. What kind of couple fell in love at first sight? It had taken her days to realize that she'd fallen for Roxas. It didn't happen with Riku and Naminé. It just didn't happen, period.

"That was a year ago," Naminé mumbled, clenching her fists. "I tried so hard to fall in love with him, tried so hard to not disappoint him…but in the end I failed."

"Did you tell him you didn't love him?" Roxas asked quietly.

"That was why I ran away," Naminé said. "I couldn't take the idea of breaking his heart; I've read about that happening, I tried imagining what heartbreak might feel like…"

She returned her gaze to her shoes. "And I never want to suffer it."

All of them winced. They could connect the dots as to why Naminé had run away.

Xion in particular felt rather guilty. She'd been so harsh to the blonde before she'd even had chance to explain herself, and Naminé had taken the verbal beating without complaint.

"Well, I'm sorry about what I said before," the brunette sighed, scratching her head. "But seriously, Riku's not worth the effort to let down easily. He's a player and a scumbag."

"He asked me to marry him," Naminé replied. "I don't think that that would be a characteristic of a playboy."

"He might've cheated on you. Did you ever think of that?"

Naminé flinched. She had heard of infidelity, but she had known for a fact that her father and mother had never done it to each other, and she hadn't expected that it could happen to her.

"No."

"Let's move on. Did you tell the entire truth?" Zexion asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes."

"How can we believe you?" Demyx asked.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"We _will_ believe you," Sora said firmly, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "We'll believe you because friends trust friends. We'll forget about all your lies from before and we'll move past them. But from now on, no more lying, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, a happy grin beginning to curve her lips. _Friends_. These kind people thought enough of her for them to consider her a _friend_.

"But what about your engagement?" Roxas asked. For some reason he felt nervous. "Are you…are you going to call it off?"

She had completely forgotten about that.

"I…don't really know," she admitted in a hesitant tone, staring at her tightly knit hands. "I don't want to hurt Riku now, but at the same time I don't want to disappoint him in the future when he realizes that I don't love him after all."

And then she squeaked in surprise as Roxas's arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace and he buried his face in her flaxen mane.

"Take your time," he murmured into her ear. "Whatever your decision, we're behind you all the way. We're your friends, and don't you ever forget that."

Her smile reappeared. Tears began to form in her eyes…but they were tears of joy, not sorrow and pain and grief.

"Thank you," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "Thank you so much."

Sora chuckled. He knew the real reason Roxas had hugged Naminé, even if the two blondes didn't know it themselves. Still, time was money and it was a-wasting.

"Alright, back to work people!"

**Xxx XXX xxX**

I hate some parts of this chapter but I love other areas of it, but that's normal for everybody on this site, right? ^^

Chapter 16 will hopefully be up by tomorrow, and Chapter 17 the day after that.

Please leave your comments and opinions with a click on that blue button called "Review"!


	17. Movie Night

I have no excuse for such a late update. All I can do is ask for your guys' forgiveness. Please? No hard feelings over this chapter?

BTW: I suck at cooking, so if I messed up the portrayal TELL ME. PLEASE.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

I only own this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Roxas and Naminé had a relationship reminiscent of neighbors in their apartment. They would say good morning to each other and that was usually the only interaction they had during the day.

But today would be different. He could tell she was still moping over the revelation even three days after it. Therefore it was his duty as a friend to cheer her up with an ingenious solution: a movie night.

Well, okay, he hadn't exactly done it of his own free will…

…

"_You want me to WHAT?"_

_Sora sighed and crossed his arms. "Naminé's miserable," the studio boss repeated. "Her misery is affecting the quality of her work, and I want you to cheer her up."_

"_Why can't somebody else do that?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow._

"_You may not know it and she might not know it either, but you're the closest to Naminé."_

"_Bullshit."_

"_Fine, so it's BS. Are you still going to do it?"_

"_No."_

"_What if I fired you for not doing it?"_

"_Go ahead."_

"_What if I ordered Naminé to do a repeat of the rec room incident?"_

_Roxas's face burned cherry red. He had almost completely forgotten about his humiliation and now Sora HAD to bring it up, that arse._

"_You don't fight fair," the younger brother muttered. "Fine, I'll do it."_

"_Good man."_

…

His brother had given him _WALL-E_, _Rush Hour_, _Kung Fu Panda_, and an unmarked movie (he had a suspicion about that one) for the express purposes of cheering Naminé up.

The blond glanced at the kitchen clock, seeing that the time was twelve from six. Naminé was doing the laundry tonight while he made dinner—spaghetti and meatballs, but his food was invariably inferior to the quality of her cooking. He did his best, anyways.

The door banged open and Naminé strode through, carrying two baskets full of cleaned clothes on her hip and head.

"Where do you want me to put your clothes, Roxas?" she called.

"Just dump them on my bed."

"Okay."

Xion may have jammed the first bedroom's door, but she'd forgotten that the two bedrooms were connected by a bathroom. Even so, Roxas had had to sleep on the couch the first night before the two of them realized that the bathroom door still gave them access to the supposedly locked-off bedroom.

Naminé walked out of her room and joined him in the kitchen, setting her hands on her hips as she watched him stir a pan of fried rice. He was aware of her ice-blue eyes tracking his every movement, judging the accuracy of his every stir and flip, narrowing whenever he made a mistake.

Apparently he made one error too many, because suddenly she was in front of him, gripping his wrists and moving them around like she was a puppeteer and him a marionette.

He turned beet red. "Uhh…"

"No, no, you got it all wrong. Stir twice clockwise _then_ counterclockwise," she said, rectifying his 'mistake'.

But Roxas's wasn't paying attention to her yelling. Instead, his twenty-something mind was focusing more on the fantastic view of Naminé's cleavage he had over her shoulder and the amazing way that her slim curves fit into him like a completed jigsaw puzzle. What kind of shampoo did she use? It smelled like cinnamon and apples, and he found his face suddenly millimeters from the base of her graceful neck, about ready to plant a tender kiss on it—

_Stop thinking. Stop thinking and stop moving right the FUCK now._

Roxas shook his head clear just as Naminé stepped away, apparently satisfied with her corrections to the food in the pan.

"Roxas, would you please set the table?"

Dammit, dammit, dammit…he thought he'd gotten over his attraction. The rec room incident had been an anomaly, but he'd thought it was a one-time thing.

"Roxas?"

Yes, he had been dazzled by Naminé's beauty the first time they had met in the subway, but he was a guy. Guys were supposed to react that way to pretty women. But beyond that, he hadn't felt anything towards Naminé and it looked like she hadn't felt anything for him beyond a simple friendship.

"Roxas? Are you okay?"

So what the hell was he feeling? A normal attraction? Something more? Nothing more?

"Roxas! Wake up!"

That didn't do much to bring the blond out of his demented reverie, but the slap that followed the shout did.

"Ow!"

"As I was saying, please set the table," Naminé instructed.

"We're having a movie night," he replied, rubbing his cheek.

Her face cutely scrunched up in confusion. "A movie night? What's that?"

"We're going to watch films for the entire night or until we faint from exhaustion," Roxas smirked, folding his arms. "And don't bother arguing because Sora ordered us to do it."

That was a little white lie. Sora hadn't ordered them to watch movies, per se; he had ordered Roxas to 'cheer her up'. The movie night had been Roxas's idea.

"Oh…kay," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Alright, I'll…I'll bring the food over to the coffee table."

"I'll do that," Roxas said, pulling two plates out of a cabinet. "You go choose the first DVD."

Naminé nodded and headed into the living room. Then she stopped.

What the heck was a DVD?

"By the way, they're the silver disks on top of the TV."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"So, in order, the films we're watching star a sentient trash-collection robot that finds romance, an anthropomorphic panda that presumably becomes a martial arts master, and a comedy movie with violence and death and plenty of action. The last movie's unmarked."

Naminé frowned. "That's only three out of four. What's the last one?"

"It was unmarked," Roxas replied, rubbing his head. "But take your pick. We're in no hurry."

She studied the DVDs one more time. _WALL-E_ sounded just a tad ridiculous, as did _Kung Fu Panda_, and _Rush Hour_ seemed contradictory in its content.

"Then let's explore the unknown," Naminé smiled. "I choose the unmarked one."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? It could be a horror movie or something…"

He could very clearly remember when Sora had tricked him into watching Alien. Roxas had been hearing xenomorphs around the house for a week.

"I'm not a child anymore," Naminé growled. "Just play it; you said it was my choice."

"Okay…"

The blond popped the DVD into the player and the two plopped down on the couch, holding their plates on their laps.

It was Roxas who noticed the logo first.

Gainax.

Gainax = Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Neon Genesis Evangelion = _End of Evangelion_.

_End of Evangelion_ = High octane nightmare fuel.

"We're not watching this," Roxas snapped. He sprang out of his seat and jabbed the stop button on the player.

"Why not?" Naminé demanded.

"You will _not_ like _End of Evangelion_," Roxas retorted. "You don't want to know why."

"How bad could it be?"

Roxas rubbed his forehead. "You have no idea…"

"Just play it," Naminé sighed.

This time Roxas didn't reply; he just pressed the play button and returned to his seat, giving Naminé a look that clearly said "it's your funeral."

The credits faded away to reveal several cords hanging across the screen. Naminé paled when she recognized the distinctive profile of jointed vertebrae.

"Are those…spinal cords?"

Somehow the classical music in the background made it worse.

"Of the aborted Evangelion prototypes, yes," Roxas responded, tapping the OK button on the remote. The menu options slowly rotted away into nothing and the screen faded to black.

She heard the sounds of humanity first, before different videos of dozens, hundreds, of people flashed by. Teenage girls socialized, shopped, talked and walked with their friends. Couples strolled through markets. Children pranced around, lost in their own worlds.

When the clips finally faded away, the credits rolled. A dozen logos materialized and disappeared before the screen displayed the ruins of a flooded city.

Roxas winced. "Here it comes…"

"Here what comes?" Naminé asked, giving her housemate a confused look.

"The infamous hospital scene," Roxas muttered. "It's bad enough for somebody who's never watched the series, but…never mind. FYI, the boy's called Shinji. The unconscious girl is Asuka."

Shinji. Asuka. Naminé nodded and returned her attention to the TV just in time to see the camera cut to a hospital room.

The boy was standing over the bed; the girl's mop of red hair was visible off to the boy's left.

"_Help me, Asuka,"_ the brunette boy, Shinji, mumbled. _"Help me. Please, you have to help me."_

The redheaded girl, Asuka, didn't respond.

Shinji reached over and began shaking Asuka's shoulder. _"Hey, quit fooling around," _he said in playfully, but Naminé could sense the fear and distress underneath the boy's joking tone. _"Asuka, wake up."_

Roxas's face twisted into a scowl of unpleasant anticipation.

"_Asuka! This isn't funny anymore! Wake up!"_

Naminé's eyes widened as Shinji finally gave up and rested his head on the girl's shoulder. "What is he…?" the blonde whispered. "What is he going to do…?"

"_Call me an idiot like you always do! Just saying something, anything, damnit!"_

"It gets worse," Roxas said. "And the _really_ bad parts haven't—"

He didn't get a chance to finish before Shinji violently pulled away, taking the bed's covers with him. Asuka rolled over and the covers slid to the floor to reveal her naked chest.

The camera cut to various items in the room—a blood bag, a heart rate monitor, the door, the ceiling…anything but the bed. Naminé couldn't see Shinji or Asuka, but the pleasured panting and grunts made what the boy was doing obvious.

"That's messed up," Naminé said in disgust. "Did…did he just…?"

"Yes he did, and you haven't seen anything yet," Roxas replied through a mouthful of fried rice.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

The nine off-white harpies rose up, their eyeless worm heads twisted into cruel sneers, their horrific wounds courtesy of the now powerless Unit 02 forgotten. The crimson-armored titan itself was spitted through its right eyes by a replica Lance of Longinus, Asuka's scream splitting the air.

That had been enough to send Naminé rushing to the bathroom; Roxas sighed in resignation as he heard retching noises. Ignoring the sounds of the MP Evangelions gutting Unit 02, he walked into Naminé's bedroom and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Naminé? Are you okay in there?" he called.

There was no answer.

Roxas sighed again and pushed the door open. Naminé looked up from the toilet, her face a rather lovely (at least on her) shade of acid green.

"Are you okay?" Roxas asked again.

Naminé glared at him. "Of course not. Watching that movie was one of the worst decisions in my entire life."

He bit back a retort, kneeling down next to her instead. "Yeah, well, everybody makes mistakes," Roxas said softly. "Do you still want to watch that movie?"

"No," she mumbled, shuddering as she heard agonized screaming from the living room. "Never again."

"Alright, I'll go turn it off," Roxas said, standing up and walking out. After a moment, the groans of an eviscerated Unit 02 were abruptly cut off and Naminé relaxed. Roxas came back in a few seconds later. "Better?"

"Thank you," she said. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. "Damnit, I'm such a wimp."

Roxas found his arms around Naminé, again, and her sharp intake of breath made it clear that she was just as surprised as he was. But that wasn't going to stop him.

"You're not a wimp," he said softly. "It was just a movie; don't beat yourself up over not wanting to watch it. I had the same reaction when I first watched _End of Evangelion_, too."

That angelic smile of hers was shaky, uncertain, but it was there and it proved that he'd gotten through to her. "Thank you, Roxas."

He smiled back and Naminé felt her heart flutter slightly.

"You're welcome," he replied. Roxas slowly stood up. "I'll get out now; you probably want to clean yourself up."

But just as he turned to exit, she caught his sleeve.

"Could you…could you stay here?" Naminé asked hesitantly.

His face turned bright red. "In here? Are you serious?"

She was blushing vibrant crimson, too. "NO!" she shouted. "No, I meant could you wait outside in my bedroom…?"

"Why?" Roxas said. He was relieved that he wouldn't be stuck in the bathroom with a showering Naminé, but his hormones were telling him that he should be disappointed.

"Because…" She hesitated. It was a stupid, childish reason—she shouldn't bother him with this. "Never mind…"

"Are you afraid that an MP Eva is going to show up in the bathroom and try to kill you?" Roxas sighed.

Naminé's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Because I used to think that that would happen, too," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't worry, I'll keep you company. I know the fear."

She smiled again. "Thank you."

"No problem." Roxas stepped outside and closed the door.

As she disrobed, Naminé tried not to think about the horrifying movie she had just seen. Instead, she filled her mind's eye with happy images—Roxas hugging her, laughing with Roxas at some idiotic joke, eating dinner with Roxas…

Heat rushed to her cheeks when she realized that all of her 'happy' thoughts all involved Roxas, for some reason. Naminé exhaled and stepped into the glass cage, twisting the knob on the wall and letting a jet of water spray across her shoulders. She used the showerhead like a massage, moving different areas of her back across the spray.

Or she would've, had she not been whirling around to scan the bathroom every five seconds.

"So this is what paranoia feels like," she muttered, bringing up her happy thoughts again.

Watching a (funny) movie with Roxas, jogging with Roxas, making love with Roxas—

Naminé squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment as yet another warm blush crept up her neck. Where the heck had that last one come from?

**Xxx XXX xxX**

_End of Evangelion_ is an utter mind-screw on the level of _Alien_ and _The Ring_. Seriously, _End_ is messed up. Sora, you magnificent bastard, you.

Please review!


	18. Initiative

Shit, I'm so sorry for the late update. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to write the last part satisfactorily. To make matters worse, AP Chemistry homework completely annihilated all my free time during the week, and I spent the train ride back from LA working on English homework. I _have_ to learn how to schedule myself better. Gah.

But enough with the excuses; without further ado, Chapter 17.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE KINGDOM HEARTS FRANCHISE.

I only own this story. Enjoy!

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Xaldin strode through the halls of the hospital, his dreadlocks swinging around his head. His nose crinkled at the smell of the antiseptic; he had always preferred the breezy outdoors as opposed to the air-conditioned inside in his childhood, and he was no different twenty years later.

But he ignored it. He was on a mission.

That fool Riku Jenova had beaten into unconsciousness by Miss Naminé's friends after he had attempted to leave with her. Xaldin and his men were a heck of a lot more tactful than that, however, and the extra finesse included actual common sense.

So now Xaldin was searching for information he could use to convince Miss Naminé to return to her father—without having to resort to violence.

Here it was. Room 84C. Xaldin didn't bother knocking; he just barged in, ignoring the surprised expression of the nurse and making a beeline for the bed and the silver-haired man lying on it.

When said nurse tried to stop him, though…

"I'm in the employ of Terra Xemnas," Xaldin said flatly. "I need to speak with Mr. Jenova."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but Mr. Jenova needs to—"

"Leave," Xaldin interrupted. "Now. I need to talk with Mr. Jenova and I will do so regardless of whether you attempt to stop me. I would advise you not to."

The nurse was a pretty girl, sea-green eyes, with long brown hair flaring out at the end. The card on her lapel named her as Selphie Tilmitt.

"You. Will. Not," she said coolly. "Mr. Jenova has yet to recover from his injuries and I will not allow you to—"

Xaldin smirked. "Would it help if I told you that you're very pretty?"

"Flattery won't—"

"I didn't mean that a compliment."

"As a threat, then?" she said softly, those green eyes of hers still boring into his own jet irises. "Are you going to make me call security?"

"I didn't mean it like that, but go ahead," Xaldin said. "I have five armed men standing by. Assault rifles and shotguns beat pistols any day of the week."

"You're bluffing," Selphie replied defiantly.

"Are you going to risk the lives of a security team trying to prove that?" Xaldin asked. He made a mental note to buy Luxord a beer for the blond agent's lessons in maintaining a poker face.

Selphie hesitated. She didn't believe his claim that he had men with military-grade weaponry around…but at the same time, she wasn't really the type to take risks. Xaldin saw her indecision and reveled in his victory.

"Miss Tilmitt, I have to ask you—how would speaking aggravate Mr. Jenova's injuries?" Xaldin inquired. "Is he in critical condition? Was his respiratory system crippled? Is the middle of the afternoon not visitors' hours?"

"Well…"

"I just want a minute with him, a moment to ask a few questions. Then I'll leave," Xaldin said calmly. "Is that too much to ask for?"

Nurse Tilmitt sighed in defeat. "Alright, you can talk to him," she muttered, heading out the door. "One minute, remember!"

When Xaldin was sure she was gone, he crossed over to Riku's bed.

"Wake up, Jenova," he said.

One aquamarine eye opened. "Mr. Xaldin. How nice to see you again. What do you want?"

"What do you know of Miss Naminé's relationship with her colleagues?" Xaldin asked. "Especially the one called Roxas Leonhart."

"Roxas?" Riku said. "The one Naminé's in love with?"

Now that…Xaldin hadn't expected. Xemnas had stressed to each and every one of his agents to never underestimate the effects of love on the human psyche—and to tread carefully when it was encountered.

"How do you know she's in love with him?" Xaldin said.

Riku laughed—a weak and hoarse sound. "Have you seen the way they look at each other?" Jenova's voice grew bitter. "It's like the other person's the only thing in their world. I don't even think they realize they're doing that."

Fuck. Xemnas had ordered his agents to bring his daughter back unharmed, and that included emotional baggage. Xaldin's job had just gotten ten times harder, but then again, he was much better at this than that incompetent Saix. He would not fail.

"And the other artists?"

"She considers them good friends, nothing more. She might see that Sora man as a brother figure."

Xaldin nodded. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jenova. I'll leave you to your rest now."

"Like I could rest when Naminé's heart is with another man," Riku muttered, turning away. "You're welcome anyways. Now get out."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

Unit 01 and Zeruel faced off, the two titans glaring each other down. His breathing came out in gasps and great gulps in exhaustion, his eyes glazed over from the nervous backlash of the Evangelion's arm being severed by one of the Angel's energy blasts.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

He could smell apple-scented shampoo in the LCL as he commanded Unit 01 to charge—

Wait, what?

Roxas cracked one lapis eye open, expecting to see the whitewashed ceiling of his room. Instead, heat rushed to his face as a beautiful woman filled his vision. She had smooth, soft-looking pale skin and silky blonde tresses that framed her heart-shaped face and spilled over her shoulders and his face, her full, pink lips fluttered slightly with her every breath, and her curvaceous figure—sheathed only in a skimpy nightie—pressed up against him in a highly agreeable manner under the covers.

What the hell was he doing in Naminé's room?

She stirred and opened her own ice-blue eyes. "Good morning, Roxas," Naminé smiled, nuzzling his shoulder with her nose.

"Buh," he said.

"Have you forgotten why you're sleeping in my bed?" she giggled, playfully poking his arm. "If you did, I asked you to keep me company."

"Buh," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Are you going to say something other than that?"

"Buh," he said.

"I guess not," Naminé replied, sitting up and swinging her legs off the bed. "I'll go and make breakfast; you shower first."

"Buh buh _buh_ _buh_!" he said, desperately trying to get his voice to start working. "Buh buh _tongue_!"

Naminé was already in the kitchen. He could hear the slamming of cupboard doors and the clang of pots and pans coming from there, but Roxas just sat back, trying to remember just how the hell he'd ended up in Naminé's bed. Thankfully, both of them were still dressed, ruling out _that_ possibility, but still.

_And it's not like that's an unpleasant idea…_

"Shut up," Roxas growled at the traitorous mental voice.

Now he remembered. They had watched _End of Evangelion_, Naminé had lost control of her gag reflex and started barfing, and he had comforted her before she took a shower with him waiting outside in her bedroom. Then they'd spent half the night just talking about _stuff_ before she pulled him down to the bed and ordered him to stay in her room.

For some reason he hadn't been able to say no.

Roxas sighed in annoyance and slid out of bed, striding out and around into his own room. A nice, cool morning shower would certainly help. Fifteen minutes later, the blond emerged out of his room, drying his spiky hair with a towel with one hand and pulling on a clean shirt with the other.

He trotted over to the kitchen and pulled open the swinging door just in time to allow Naminé to walk through, carrying two plates.

"Roxas, could you get some forks and knives?" she asked.

His eyes involuntarily zeroed in on the spectacular cleavage that nightie created. Was Naminé even wearing a bra under that thing?

He mentally slapped himself when he realized that she had said something. "Y-yeah," he said. "Sure."

Naminé raised an eyebrow and leaned in, blissfully ignorant of the way Roxas's complexion instantly colored when he saw that she wasn't, in fact, wearing a bra.

"Are you okay, Roxas?" she asked.

He looked away, his face now the color of tomatoes.

"Roxas?"

"Naminé, would you please put on some clothes?" he said in a half-choked voice.

"What? We don't have to go to work until…" Then she looked down and blushed when she realized that she was still dressed in the revealing nightgown—and promptly dashed to her room. "Don't you dare look!"

"Why would I?" Roxas muttered to himself. "Every time I do…I just feel _wrong_."

**Xxx XXX xxX**

"SOOOOORAAAAAA!"

Oh good, Roxas was here. Sora turned around in his office chair just in time to see his brother storm into the office.

"Do you need anything, Roxas?" Sora asked evenly.

"What the hell were you thinking, tricking us into watching _End of Evangelion_?" Roxas snapped. "You know what that movie's like!"

Sora smirked. Poor, naïve little Roxas… "You seriously haven't figured out why I, as you put it, "tricked" you two into watching _End_? And it was Kairi's idea, by the way."

Then it clicked.

"You magnificent bastard…"

But it didn't make sense. The movie night had been Roxas's idea, and Sora couldn't have possibly prepared a matchmaking Xanatos gambit like this on such short notice. Kairi, however…

"Kairi's a woman, in case you didn't know," Sora said sarcastically. "And I wouldn't appreciate you calling her the b-word."

"And I don't appreciate you scaring Naminé to the point where she was throwing up in toilet," Roxas snarled. "She was paranoid just like I was the first time I saw _End_!"

"Ah, so you do care about her!" Sora smiled, leaning back. "So, when're you asking her out?"

The younger Leonhart's eyes widened. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's pretty obvious that you like Naminé," Sora said. "But, alright, apparently you can't work up the courage to tell her that. Care to tell me why?"

"I don't have feelings for Naminé," Roxas said evenly.

"Sure, sure. That's what they all say," Sora replied airily. "Seriously—why won't you tell her?"

"This conversation is over," Roxas growled, turning to walk out.

Elsewhere, someone else was being given the same talk.

"So, Naminé, I heard that you and Roxas watched _End of Evangelion_," Larxene said, leaning on the doorframe of the concept room. "Well, whatever that is. But I was also told that you got scared shitless and asked Roxas to stay in your room for the night."

"Who told you that?" Naminé snapped, blushing furiously.

"Should I take that as confirmation that you two did?" Larxene snickered.

"No!"

"Did you do anything naughty…?"

"NO!"

"She's lying," Xion commented, startling both Naminé and Larxene with her sudden appearance. "Trust me, she is."

"All we did was sleep together," Naminé said evenly.

Beat.

"No, not like that!" she shouted quickly. "I meant we slept together in the same bed!"

"Sure…" Xion smirked, drawing out the single syllable into a suggestive drawl. "So stop the denials and tell me—when're you two expecting?"

Naminé gaped at the brunette. "Excuse me?"

"Your first kid."

"We didn't have sex! I swear!"

Larxene sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "Poor, innocent little Naminé…our resident virgin," she muttered. "So inexperienced in the ways of the world."

"Don't you two have work to do?" Naminé asked.

"We do," Xion said. "But mercilessly teasing you is a lot more fun."

"Well, I want to do my work," Naminé replied. "So, if you don't mind…?"

Larxene cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey, Roxas!"

"What?"

"Could you come here for a sec?"

"I'm busy!"

"Please? Just five seconds?"

"…fine."

Xion didn't release the struggling Naminé, knowing that the blonde would bolt the moment she was free. Naminé glared at the brunette and elbowed Xion's side.

The footsteps got closer and Roxas appeared in the doorway.

"What do you want, Bug-hair?" he asked, scratching his head. "Five seconds, remember…"

"Ask Naminé out."

Roxas froze. "_What_?"

"You heard me," Larxene said calmly. "Ask Naminé for one date."

He turned to leave, but Zexion and Axel appeared out of nowhere and descended on him, grabbing his arms and forcing him back inside the room.

"What the hell, guys?" Roxas snapped. "Let go of me!"

"Not until you ask Naminé out," Axel said in a singsong voice.

"You can't force me to do that!"

"Consider your options, Roxas," Zexion said flatly. "Do you really believe that we will release you before you request a date from Naminé?"

"Let me go, damn you!"

"Well, if you won't cooperate, then maybe Naminé will," Larxene said. "Xion, if you would…?"

Xion waited one more moment, but Roxas didn't stop struggling in Zexion and Axel's iron grips. The brunette rolled her eyes and loosened her headlock on Naminé; the blonde instantly broke free and shoved Xion away.

"Don't do that again," Naminé said angrily.

"Whatever you say," Xion replied airily. "Hey, could I ask you for a favor?"

"Okay."

Axel clapped a hand over Roxas's mouth before the latter could say anything.

"Would you kindly ask Roxas if he's free tomorrow night?" Xion asked.

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "Why…?"

"Please?"

She nodded, still somewhat confused, and turned to Roxas, who looked like he was cornered by a serial killer. He shook his head frantically, making muffled noises that sounded like pleas for her to not listen to Xion.

"Roxas, are you free tomorrow night?" Naminé asked.

He groaned.

"I'll take that as a yes," Xion interjected. "Naminé, now say "would you like to go to a dance club tomorrow night, Roxas?"

The spiky-haired blond stamped on Axel's foot and smashed the back of his head into Zexion's face, sending both men staggering back as Roxas broke free.

"Would you like to go to a dance club tomorrow night, Roxas?" Naminé said. For some reason, she was holding her breath, hopeful that Roxas would accept…

"NO!"

The room went silent.

Roxas swept the room with a death-glare; if looks could kill, Xion, Axel, Larxene, and Zexion would've been long gone. As it was, all four went ashen when their eyes met his murderous gaze. Sora's angry look had _nothing_ on his younger brother's.

"You guys have no right to interfere in my love life!" Roxas snapped. "Who the hell do you think you are, playing matchmaker? This isn't a high school fanfic!"

Larxene hesitantly stepped forward. "Roxas, we're just trying to—"

"Don't shoot me that bullshit," Roxas snarled. "I don't need any help with my relationships from you guys, and don't think that you know what I want. And it's certainly not a date!"

Silence.

And then a sniffle drew everybody's attention to Naminé. The blonde was looking down at her feet, her hands clenched into tiny fists, and her posture as rigid as a steel pylon.

Why? Why was she in so much pain? Why did she feel like she'd just been shot?

She squeezed her eyelids shut even harder when she felt a burning sensation at the corner of her eyes. Tears.

_Don't…don't cry…Mother told me never to cry…_

She could remember how Roxas had comforted her with gentle words last night. She could remember how the warmth of his body against hers chased away the nightmares she would've suffered bereft of him. She could remember the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tight, protecting her.

Now those memories made the pain even worse.

_Don't cry…_

Roxas winced in remorse when he saw the hurt expression on Naminé's face. Guilt tore at his insides when a single tear slid down the blonde's cheek.

Axel glared at him. "Nice job breaking her, Roxas."

"Rejection hurts, doesn't it?" Xion said. "Just try imagining what Naminé must be feeling right now, you asshole."

Another look at the stricken Naminé and Roxas's heart melted like an ice cube under a flamethrower. He let out a breath. "Alright, fine. I'll go clubbing with you, Naminé. Just…just don't cry, alright?"

Almost immediately, Naminé's face brightened like a rejuvenated star and she rushed forward, tackling Roxas in a bear hug and burying her head in his chest. He cringed as heat crept up his neck, but he tenderly returned the embrace, if somewhat awkwardly.

Zexion, Larxene, and Axel smirked and exited to leave the two lovebirds (they knew that Roxas would've spluttered in outrage if he'd heard that) alone. Xion stayed and opened her mouth.

"Not a word, Doll." Roxas punctuated the flat statement with another death glare.

Xion blanched and nodded fearfully.

**Xxx XXX xxX**

I was originally going to have Naminé run off in tears, but I decided to hell with that. There'll be plenty of opportunities for a broken heart on both sides later on in the story.

Also, would Xaldin asking Selphie out have been just a bit too farfetched? I dunno, but just to be on the safe side, I deleted that scene. What do you guys think—should that scene be put back in or not?

A little tidbit about me: when I was a little kid, I apparently had very pretty eyes. Some girl really liked them and she tried to _pry them out of the sockets_. According to my mom, at least.

Please review!


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